Question 3 The rainy day fund. Part of a series on statewide ballot questions

State lawmakers would be forced to stash more money away for an emergency under a proposed constitutional amendment before voters Nov. 7.

Currently, the state Constitution requires that 2 percent of all expected revenues each year be placed into a budget reserve account – the so-called rainy day fund. Question 3 on the ballot asks voters to amend the Constitution, increasing that allotment to 3 percent.

The state currently takes in about $3 billion in local revenue. The extra percent would mean that an additional $30 million a year would be set aside for an emergency.

The amendment would also increase the size of the rainy day fund from 3 percent of actual revenues to 5 percent. Currently, when the rainy day fund fills up, the extra money is set aside in a capital spending fund, called the Rhode Island Capital Plan. The money there is used to build roads, new state buildings and make improvements to existing infrastructure.

However, lawmakers are also allowed to take money from the capital spending fund to pay off the interest and principal on bonds for capital projects.

Question 3 would immediately strip that power from lawmakers, allowing the money to only be used on capital projects. The debt service would instead have to come out of the state’s general operating budget.

The Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, which pushed for Question 3, says that in the last 10 years more than 55 percent of the money in the capital fund has been spent for debt service.

If approved by the voters, the budget changes would not take effect until fiscal year 2013.