RD193 - The Virginia Family Access to Medical Insurance Security (FAMIS) Plan Trust Fund - December 1, 2004


Executive Summary:
The Virginia Family Access to Medical Insurance Security (FAMIS) Plan Trust Fund was established in the state treasury as a special nonreverting fund in 1997 (though it was originally named the Virginia Children's Medical Security Insurance Plan Trust Fund). The State Corporation Commission annually calculates the tax revenue that is deposited into the trust fund. The Code of Virginia mandates that any moneys remaining in the Fund at the end of each fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund but shall remain in the Fund. From the beginning of the Fund until the middle of Fiscal Year 2002, the interest earned on the cash balances of the Fund was deposited into the Fund. However, language included in Chapter 814, Chapter 899 and Chapter 4 of the Acts of the Assembly mandated that interest earned from the trust fund shall remain in the state general fund.

Furthermore, in Chapter 4 of the 2004 Acts of the Assembly (§ 3-1.01 M.1 on Page 477 of Chapter 4) the language limits the deposits into the fund to $14,065,627 in each year of the biennium. If the amount to be deposited into the fund (based on the criteria set forth in the Code of Virginia) were to exceed the limit, the amount exceeding the limit is deposited in the General Fund.

The moneys in the Trust Fund are used, in lieu of state general funds, to draw down federal funds to cover costs incurred in the Commonwealth’s Title XXI program; in addition a portion of the funds each year has gone to pay the costs incurred by Medicaid for children who applied for the Title XXI program but were screened as eligible for Medicaid. Table 1 provides a history of deposits into and expenditures out of the FAMIS Trust Fund for FY 1998 through FY 2005 (YTD). Table 2 provides the appropriated amounts for the 2004-2006 biennium.