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if you do have a shorts, the money flows out of the
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reserves to pay it. If you have an overage, the money
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flows back into the reserves. A constitutional base is
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required to prevent any single administration or legislatur
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raiding these funds for political reasons.
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For example, New York, after authorizing legisla-
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tion, has this provision: "No law changing the method of
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determining the maximum amount of the funds or prescribing
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the amount to be paid into such a fund or to be paid from
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such a fund into the general fund may become effective unti
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three years from the date of its enactment," This has
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effectively protected the funds from raids.
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When I left New York a couple of years ago, those
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funds were somewhere around $160,000,000. I don't know
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what they are today, but they are obviously somewhere in
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that area.
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I would also advocate a provision in the
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Constitution for automatic payment of debt service in the
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event that appropriations are not adequate to cover your
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debt payments . There is no question that Maryland intends
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to pay its legally incurred obligations. If there were eve
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