S.C. Code Ann. § 11-11-320 – Capital Reserve Fund

(A) The General Assembly, in the annual general appropriations act, shall appropriate, out of the estimated revenue of the general fund for the fiscal year for which the appropriations are made, into a Capital Reserve Fund, which is separate and distinct from the General Reserve Fund, an amount equal to two percent of the general fund revenue of the latest completed fiscal year.
(B) This appropriation must be contained in the Ways and Means Committee report on the general appropriations bill, the general appropriations bill at the time of third reading in the House of Representatives, the Senate Finance Committee report on the general appropriations bill, the general appropriations bill at the time of a third reading in the Senate, and in any conference report on the general appropriations bill.
(C) Revenues in the Capital Reserve Fund only may be used in the following manner:
1. (1) If, before March first, the Board of Economic Advisors' revenue forecast to the State Budget and Control Board for the current fiscal year projects that revenues at the end of the fiscal year will be less than expenditures authorized by appropriations for that year, then the current year's appropriation to the Capital Reserve Fund first must be reduced by the Board to the extent necessary before mandating any reductions in operating appropriations.
2. (2) After March first of a fiscal year, monies from the Capital Reserve Fund may be appropriated by the General Assembly in separate legislation upon an affirmative vote in each branch of the General Assembly by two-thirds of the members present and voting but not less than three-fifths of the total membership in each branch for the following purposes:
  1. (a) to finance in cash previously authorized capital improvement bond projects;
  2. (b) to retire interest or principal on bonds previously issued;
  3. (c) for capital improvements or other nonrecurring purposes.
(D)
1. (1) Any appropriation of monies from the Capital Reserve Fund as provided in subsection (C) of this section must be ranked in priority of expenditure and is effective thirty days after completion of the fiscal year. If it is determined that the fiscal year has ended with an operating deficit, then the monies appropriated from the Capital Reserve Fund must be reduced by the State Budget and Control Board based on the rank of priority, beginning with the lowest priority, to the extent necessary and applied by the Board to the year-end operating deficit before withdrawing monies from the General Reserve Fund.
2. (2) At the end of the fiscal year, any monies in the Capital Reserve Fund that are not appropriated as provided in subsection (C) of this section or any appropriation for a particular project or item which has been reduced due to application of the monies to a year-end deficit must lapse and be credited to the General Fund.