Committee approves drafting a constitutional amendment and statutory draft to create a long‑term compounding ‘generational’ account

Committee members voted to ask LSO to draft a conceptual constitutional amendment creating a permanent “compounding investment permanent revenue account” (committee shorthand: the generational fund) and to prepare companion statutory options. Treasurer Curt Meyer and other supporters said the goal is to create a permanent, dedicated account that compounds contributions and provides predictable distributions after a maturation period.

LSO attorney Michael Fuller briefly described two versions of a bill the committee had in its packet. The introduced version discussed by LSO would have required a $100,000,000 annual transfer from the LSRA into the generational account for 30 years; the engrossed version allowed graduated transfers tied to the LSRA balance (for example, if the LSRA balance was below $1 billion no transfer would be made for that year). The LSO summary also explained proposed post‑maturity distribution mechanics: after a 30‑year building period a portion of the compounded earnings (the LSO handout used 37.5% as an example) could be distributed to the general fund while the remainder would be reinvested to preserve perpetual compounding.

Treasurer Meyer and others argued a constitutional vehicle would better protect a permanent account’s purpose while keeping asset‑allocation parameters statutorily adjustable. The treasurer told the committee the approach should be two‑pronged: “1 for asset allocation that should be statutorily and then 1 for a permanent fund, which essentially should be permanent the same way the permanent mineral trust fund is.” Representative Nicholas and Senator Crum urged careful drafting; Nicholas cautioned the committee that a constitutional amendment that is too prescriptive could tie future legislatures’ hands and recommended more general constitutional language with specific allocations left to statute.

Discussion vs. decision vs. direction: The committee approved a motion to request a constitutional amendment draft (conceptual language supplied by proponents was used as a starting point) and separately approved a motion to ask LSO for a statutory companion draft to implement the fund mechanics. Both motions were procedural — the committee requested drafts for future debate; no constitutional filing or final statutory language was adopted at the meeting.

Numbers and modeling LSO discussed: Fuller and the treasurer referenced a 30‑year build period and modeling examples in the packet. The introduced bill language discussed in committee contemplated a 30‑year stream of annual deposits (the introduced version used $100 million as a simple illustrative transfer amount). Fuller and Treasurer Meyer explained capital‑market assumptions under an 85% private equity / 15% private credit allocation would materially shorten the time to a specified maturity compared with lower‑risk mixes; they stressed, however, that capital‑market forecasts are uncertain and committee members asked for additional scenario analysis.

Next steps: LSO will draft the proposed constitutional amendment language and statutory companion drafts for committee review. Committee members asked for scenario modeling showing alternative deposit schedules and expected outcomes under different assumed returns and asked staff to provide background on the two legislative paths (statutory vs. constitutional) and the vote thresholds required for each.