Pork spending isn’t dead in the 2012-2013 state budget, but lawmakers have made sure the grants known as member items will subsist on the cash equivalent of life support.

There is no new spending authorized from the community projects fund in the new fiscal plan.

A budget bill set for consideration Friday, however, includes language that could re-stuff the dwindling account with up to $38 million in cash for already-approved projects, subject to some constraints.

Lawmakers have promised money for all kinds of pet programs over the past decade, but moving cash out the door has been difficult as deficits ballooned. There is currently an unfunded pork backlog of over $230 million, said Morris Peters, a spokesman for the state Budget Division.

Proponents of member items say they fund valuable community programs that legislators are in a unique position to identify. Critics say they are unnecessary spending and their distribution simply allows incumbent lawmakers to brag for political gain. Several criminal cases have arisen from legislators steering the funds to entities that benefit themselves, their families or allies.

On Wednesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during a radio interview on WGDJ in Albany that as attorney general he found several instances of fraud.

“There are no member items in the budget,” he said. “I would like them to be over in terms of any new ones.”

In 2011, Cuomo proposed closing the pork account within six months, but relented under pressure from legislators. Instead, the final budget that year similarly authorized up to $38 million in cash transfers to the fund. It’s unclear how much was actually sent. As of February, the fund held $105 million, Peters said.

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