Source: https://www.azag.gov/sgo-opinions/I01-021
Timestamp: 2015-03-07 01:50:38
Document Index: 581509302

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 35', '§ 35', '§ 3', '§ 3', '§ 35', '§ 35', '§ 35', '§ 3']

Any authorization for expenditures, however, must comply with the $4 million limit and the other requirements in statute and rule. See generally A.R.S. § 35-192, A.A.C. R8-2-301 to R8-2-612. Because of recent amendments, some explanation of the $4 million limit may be useful. In a 1998 amendment to the applicable statutes, the Legislature made clear that the $4 million limit is calculated based on the year the expenditure is authorized, regardless of when the monies are actually spent: "Monies authorized for disasters and emergencies in prior fiscal years, and expended in subsequent fiscal years . . . apply toward the four million dollar liability limit for the fiscal year in which they were authorized." A.R.S. § 35-192(F)(3); see 1998 Ariz. Sess. Laws ch.134, § 3. The 1998 amendments also changed the language from a limit on liabilities "in any fiscal year" to a limit on liabilities "for any fiscal year." 1998 Ariz. Sess. Laws ch. 134, § 3 (emphasis added). These changes were made in response to a 1997 Attorney General's Opinion, Ariz. Att'y Gen. Op. I97-009, which concluded that the statutory language in effect at that time limited DEMA expenditures under A.R.S. § 35-192 to $4 million in any fiscal year. See Hearing on SB 1123 Before the House Committee on Appropriations, 43rd Legis., 2nd Reg. Sess. 2 (April, 14, 1998) (testimony of Michael Austin, Director of DEMA). As amended in 1998, A.R.S. § 35-192(F)(3) permits actual expenditures under that statute to exceed $4 million in a particular fiscal year if some of the expenditures were authorized in earlier fiscal years, but the totalauthorizations for a fiscal year cannot exceed $4 million. See A.R.S. § 35-192(F)(3); 1998 Ariz. Sess. Laws. ch. 134, § 3.