4. Investment of funds. The money in the stabilization fund may be invested as provided by law with the earnings credited to the stabilization fund.

5. Investment proceeds; exception. At the close of every month during which the stabilization fund is at the 12% limitation described in subsection 1, the State Controller shall transfer from the General Fund to the Retirement Allowance Fund established in section 17251 an amount equivalent to the investment earnings that otherwise would have been credited to the stabilization fund.

6. Death benefits. The Governor shall allocate funds from the stabilization fund as needed to pay benefits due pursuant to Title 25, chapter 195-A. Allocations may be made upon written request of the Chief of the State Police, State Fire Marshal or Director of Maine Emergency Medical Services, and after consultation with the State Budget Officer.

§1533.__Declaration of budget emergency

If the Legislature has adjourned sine die prior to the close of a fiscal year and the commissioner determines that available General Fund resources will not be sufficient to meet General Fund appropriations, the commissioner may declare a budget emergency, and the Governor may reduce the stabilization fund below the 1% minimum threshold established by section 1532, but only to a level sufficient to bring the budget back into balance.__ The Governor shall inform the Legislative Council immediately upon such transfers from the stabilization fund.

§1534.__General Fund appropriation limitation

The General Fund appropriation for each fiscal year of the current fiscal biennium and the next fiscal biennium may not exceed the adjusted General Fund appropriation of the previous fiscal year, multiplied by one plus the long-term growth rate limitation as defined in section 1710-F, subsection 4. The limitation may be exceeded only by the amount of the additional costs or the lost federal revenue from the following exceptional circumstances: unfunded or under-funded new federal mandates, losses in federal revenues or other revenue sources, citizen's initiatives or referenda that require increased state spending, court orders or decrees that require additional state resources to comply with the orders or decrees and sudden or significant increases in demand for existing state services that are not the