CHAPTER 32 – APPROPRIATION
AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATION FOR A STATE EMERGENCY FUND FOR CERTAIN EMERGENCIES FOR THE RESPECTIVE YEARS OF THE BIENNIUM JULY 1, 1941 TO JUNE 30, 1943 AND PRESCRIBING LIMITATIONS UPON USE THEREOF AND THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE PERMANENT BUDGET COMMISSION IN RELATION THERETO.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
Section 1. Creation of Fund:—A fund is hereby created to be known as "The State Emergency Fund" which shall consist of any moneys in the General Fund of the State of Delaware not otherwise appropriated, and shall in no case exceed the cash balance to the credit of the State Treasury for a total of Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars ($700,000.00• not including receipts from the sale of any bonds or from other evidences of debt.
Section 2. Availability of Fund:—The State Emergency Fund shall be disbursed by the State Treasurer only upon order of the Permanent Budget Commission and only for the purposes of paying expenses authorized to be incurred by any agency named in this Act after such agency shall have certified to the existence of an actual emergency as hereinafter defined, provided that in no case shall an order be issued by the Permanent Budget Commission in excess of the amount hereinafter specified for any one emergency or for a total of emergencies of like kind in any one fiscal year authorizing a particular agency to expend such amount as is necessary to meet a specific emergency as hereinafter defined.
Section 3. Proof of Emergency:—An emergency shall be deemed to exist only when declared by the Governor to have been determined by him by and with consent of the majority of the members of the Permanent Budget Commission. Such determination may be made after proof of emergency which shall be satisfactory to said Commission has been submitted, and such proof shall include any evidence and testimony as said Commission may require and in every case an affidavit setting forth all facts in support of a claim that an emergency exists, sworn to by a duly authorized representative of the agency making application for use of all or any portion of the State Emergency Fund as herein provided.
Section 4. Emergencies Defined:—It is further provided that an emergency shall exist only when an expenditure, not otherwise authorized by the general appropriation act or any supplementary appropriation act and for which funds have not otherwise been provided in the budget of any department or agency of this state, has become necessary directly as a result of an act of God or for other cause beyond the control of said department or agency for any of the following purposes:
(a) To replace any bridge, road or highway which shall have been destroyed, washed out or otherwise demolished, the State Highway Department, may, upon submission of satisfactory proof of emergency, be authorized to expend all or any part of an amount not to exceed Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000.00).
(b) To remove snow from the roads and highways when the amount expended for snow removal shall have exceeded in any one fiscal year the amount expended in the fiscal year ended June 30, 1940 by the State Highway Department, but in no case shall the amount exceed the actual additional cost of such removal not otherwise provided for, the State Highway Department may, upon submission of satisfactory proof of emergency, be authorized to expend all or any part of an amount not to exceed Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00).
(c) To replace any boiler which shall have been destroyed or condemned but in an amount not to exceed the actual cost of such replacement, any department or agency of this state may, upon submission of satisfactory proof of emergency, be authorized to expend all or any part of an amount not to exceed Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00).
(d) To replace any building or other structure which shall have been destroyed by fire, the replacement value of which is not fully covered by insurance, but in no case to exceed the difference between such replacement value and such insurance received as result of such fire, any department or agency of this state may, upon submission of satisfactory proof of emergency, be authorized to expend all or any part of an amount not to exceed Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00).
(e) To provide troops necessary for defense and protection within this state during the absence of the National Guard and as may be otherwise provided by statute, the Adjutant General of this state may, upon submission of satisfactory proof of emergency, be authorized to expend all or any part of an amount not to exceed Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00).
(f) To provide the National Guard with an appropriation for batteries, supplies, headquarters and band when it shall have been discharged from the Federal service and returned to its regular duty in the state, the Adjutant General may, upon submission of satisfactory proof of emergency, be authorized to expend all or any part of an amount not to exceed Twenty-three Thousand Nine Hundred and Fifty Dollars ($23,950.00).
(g) To provide for additional relief for the unemployed and unemployable when sums provided by any appropriation act shall have proved insufficient for the purposes of such relief, the State Old Age Welfare Commission may, upon submission of satisfactory proof of emergency, be authorized to expend all or any part of an amount not to exceed Seventy-five Thousand Dollars ($75,000.00).
(h) To provide for transportation of school pupils when the appropriation provided for such transportation shall have been insufficient to meet the cost of such transportation, the State Board of Education may, upon submission of satisfactory proof of emergency, be authorized to expend all or any part of an amount not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00).
(i) To provide for the care and treatment of additional inmates at the Delaware State Hospital in excess of 1,275, the Board of Trustees of the Delaware State Hospital may upon submission of satisfactory proof of emergency, be authorized to expend all or any part of an amount not to exceed Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00).
(j) To replace any bookkeeping machine in the office of the Auditor of Accounts when it shall have become unfit for further use, the Auditor of Accounts may, upon submission of satisfactory proof of emergency, be authorized to expend all or any part of an amount not to exceed Three Thousand, Two Hundred and Fifty Dollars ($3,250.00).
(k) To replace postage meter machine in the office of the Secretary of State when it shall have become unfit for further use, the Secretary of State may, upon submission of satisfactory proof of emergency, be authorized to expend all or any part of an amount not to exceed Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00).
(1) To provide additional appropriation for examinations for qualifications as certified public accountant when funds otherwise appropriated have been exhausted, the State Board of Accountancy may, upon submission of satisfactory proof of emergency, be authorized to expend all or any part of an amount not to exceed Two Hundred and Fifty Dollars ($250.00).
(m) To provide for repairs of an extraordinary nature resulting from damage by fire, storm or other casualty for which insurance received is insufficient to cover the replacement of such building and equipment, the State Board of Education, if the building or equipment is located in a school district. outside of the City of Wilmington or the Board of Public Education in Wilmington, if the building or equipment is located in the consolidated school district in the City of Wilmington, may, upon submission of satisfactory proof of emergency, be authorized to expend all or any part of an amount not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00).
(n) To supplement and provide funds in any case where any dispute may arise to the extent that no act of withholding thereof by an officer may be permitted to impair the expressed purpose for which any appropriation has been made in any general or supplementary appropriation bill for vocational education, mothers pensions, health or construction purposes, any agency so affected by such withholding may upon submission of satisfactory proof of emergency be authorized to expend an amount not to exceed Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00).
Section 5. The Auditor of Accounts shall keep actual detailed accounts of the cost or expenditure of any and all portions of the said State Emergency Fund to reflect outlays approved in the manner hereinbefore provided by the Permanent Budget Commission and expended by an individual agency out of the appropriations set forth in this Act, and the Permanent Budget Commission shall submit to the next General Assembly a full and detailed statement of the nature of the emergency or emergencies for which expenditures are authorized, the cause thereof, and a copy of the account maintained therefor by the said Auditor of Accounts.
Section 6. This Act shall be taken and deemed to be a Supplementary Appropriation Act and the sums hereby appropriated shall be paid out of the General Fund of the State Treasury not otherwise appropriated in accordance with the items and conditions of this Act.
Section 7. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed to the extent of such inconsistency only.
Approved April 9, 1941.