Legislature(1999 - 2000)
03/02/2000 12:10 PM House BUD
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+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
JOINT COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE BUDGET AND AUDIT
March 2, 2000
12:10 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Gail Phillips, Chair
Representative Con Bunde
Representative Eric Croft
Representative Gary Davis
Representative Gene Therriault
Senator Randy Phillips, Vice Chair
Senator Rick Halford
Senator Sean Parnell
Senator Gary Wilken
Senator Drue Pearce (Alternate)
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Eldon Mulder (Alternate)
Senator Al Adams
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
EXECUTIVE SESSION
AUDIT REPORTS
CONSIDERATION OF RPLs (Revised Program - Legislative)
OTHER COMMITTEE BUSINESS
WITNESS REGISTER
DAVID TEAL, Legislative Fiscal Analyst
Legislative Finance Division
State Office Building, Sixth Floor
P.O. Box 113200
Juneau, Alaska 99811-3200
POSITION STATEMENT: Introduced RPL 01-0-8040 and RPL 01-0-8041.
SARA PEACOCK, Finance Officer
Division of Administrative Services
Office of the Governor
240 Main Street, Suite 300
P.O. Box 110001-0001
Juneau, Alaska 99811-0001
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified on RPL 01-0-8040 and RPL 01-0-
8041.
PAULA HALEY, Executive Director
Human Rights Commission
Office of the Governor
800 A Street, Suite 204
Anchorage, Alaska 99501-3669
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified on RPL 01-0-8040 and RPL 01-0-
8041.
JANET CLARKE, Director
Division of Administrative Services
Department of Health & Social Services
320 Main Street
P.O. Box 110650
Juneau, Alaska 99811-0650
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified on RPL 06-0-0251.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 00-4, SIDE A
Number 0001
CHAIR GAIL PHILLIPS called the Joint Committee on Legislative
Budget and Audit meeting to order at 12:10 p.m. Members present
at the call to order were Representatives Phillips, Bunde, Croft,
Davis and Therriault, and Senators Phillips, Wilken and Pearce.
Senators Halford and Parnell arrived as the meeting was in
progress.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Number 0063
CHAIR PHILLIPS announced that the first order of business was the
approval of minutes from previous Legislative Budget and Audit
Committee meetings. She indicated that the first two sets of
minutes were going to be approved as one meeting from the meeting
held on January 14 and continued on January 24, 2000.
SENATOR PHILLIPS made a motion for the approval of the January 14
and January 24, 2000, Legislative Budget and Audit Committee
minutes. There being no objection, the minutes were approved.
CHAIR PHILLIPS announced that the next item of business was the
approval of the minutes from the meeting held on January 28,
2000.
SENATOR PHILLIPS made a motion for the approval of the January
28, 2000, Legislative Budget and Audit Committee minutes. There
being no objection, the minutes were approved.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
SENATOR PHILLIPS made a motion, in accordance with Title 44, to
move to executive session for the purpose discussing audit
reports, which are held confidential by law. There being no
objection, the committee went into executive session at 12:15
p.m.
CHAIR PHILLIPS requested that the following people attend the
executive session: Pat Davidson (Legislative Auditor) and staff;
Jim Griffin (Legislative Audit Manager; Nikki Rouget (Legislative
Audit Manager); Danna Moser (Legislative Auditor); David Teal
(Legislative Fiscal Analyst); and Pat Hartley (Legislative Budget
and Audit Committee aide).
SENATOR PHILLIPS made a motion to move back into public session.
There being no objection, the committee was back in public
session at 1:00 p.m.
AUDIT REPORTS
Number 0203
SENATOR PHILLIPS made a motion to release the following three
audits to the public: DOA - Public Defender Agency (02-4530-00);
DLWD - Division of Worker's Compensation (07-4601-00); DOA -
Chargeback Review (02-4610-00). There being no objection, the
three audits were released to the public.
SENATOR PHILLIPS made a motion to release two preliminary audits
for agency review, one dealing with the Alaska Housing Finance
Corporation and the other one dealing with the follow-up review
for the Division of Family & Youth Services. There being no
objection, the two preliminary audits were released to the
agencies.
SENATOR PHILLIPS made a motion to approve Representative Bunde's
audit request for the University of Alaska Retirement Incentive
Program. There being no objection, the audit request was
approved.
CONSIDERATION OF RPLs (Revised Program - Legislative)
CHAIR PHILLIPS announced that the next order of business was
consideration of RPLs.
Number 0466
DAVID TEAL, Legislative Fiscal Analyst, Legislative Finance
Division, Alaska State Legislature, stated that the first RPL is
01-0-8040, from the Office of the Governor, for $5,500 in federal
receipts. He explained that the money is available from the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to the Alaska
State Commission for Human Rights to conduct fair housing
workshops in 14 communities. He noted that the money is
available on March 15, 2000, which allows them to jump-start the
program by hiring a part-time administrative assistant and to
begin gathering workshop materials. If it is denied, there will
be a three-month delay and possible jeopardy to an eighteen-month
grant. He noted that it is not in the "supplemental."
SENATOR PEARCE wondered why they didn't ask for the grant in the
supplemental.
SARA PEACOCK, Finance Officer, Division of Administrative
Services, Office of the Governor, stated that the actual award
was not received until recently. She indicated that they have
done a budget amendment for the fiscal year 2001 budget that
would include the balance of the funding.
Number 0582
SENATOR PEARCE indicated she is not quibbling over the $5,500 but
over the process. She pointed out that the director of the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) had just put some
additional supplemental requests on the table two weeks ago. She
said she fails to understand why it was not included if it is
that important.
MS. PEACOCK said she was unable to address that question.
REPRESENTATIVE CROFT pointed out that the first payment is
scheduled for March 15, 2000. He asked whether $5,500 is the
amount of the first payment.
MS. PEACOCK explained that she believes it is a payment of $3,000
and then a subsequent payment of the balance. She indicated that
often the supplemental is not available on the initial draw-down
date. She pointed out that they have a draw of $2,500 on March
15, 2000, and then a draw of $3,000 on April 30, 2000. She added
that the funding requests are tied into the completion of
specific administrative tasks.
Number 0715
SENATOR HALFORD made a motion for the approval of the RPL, 01-0-
8040, stating that it is below minimum.
CHAIR PHILLIPS asked if there was any objection to the approval
of the RPL, 01-0-8040.
SENATOR PEARCE objected for the purpose of consistency.
SENATOR PARNELL objected for the purpose of process.
REPRESENTATIVE CROFT wondered if the supplemental is guaranteed
to be done by March 15, 2000.
CHAIR PHILLIPS explained that currently there is a fast-track
supplemental, and it was not requested to be in the fast-track
supplemental.
REPRESENTATIVE CROFT said he believes that the request is
appropriate. He pointed out that they do not know if the
supplemental will be approved by March 15, and that is when they
need the authority.
SENATOR PARNELL stated that they will go through the exact same
discussion every year unless they draw a line on the process. He
agreed that $5,500 is below minimum for most of them, but it is
the process that counts.
Number 0804
REPRESENTATIVE CROFT suggested that it is absolutely correct to
say that there is good reason to consider the RPL during session.
For instance, when the timeline for the grant is not going to
fit, it is especially interim funding.
CHAIR PHILLIPS asked Paula Haley to speak to why there is the RPL
before them.
PAULA HALEY, Executive Director, Human Rights Commission, Office
of the Governor, testified via teleconference from Anchorage.
She stated that they applied for the grant that allowed them to
provide Alaskans with education on the human rights laws back in
June. She indicated that they did not receive notification that
they had been awarded the grant from HUD until mid-to-late
December. She stated that they are oftentimes hamstrung when
they apply for grants by the timelines that the federal
government sets, which do not coincide with the state budgeting
time line.
A roll call vote was taken. Voting in favor of the approval of
RPL 01-0-8040 were Senators Halford and Wilken, and
Representatives Croft, Davis and Phillips. Voting against it
were Senators Parnell, Pearce and Phillips, and Representatives
Therriault and Bunde. Therefore, RPL 01-0-8040 failed approval
by the Joint Legislative Budget and Audit Committee by a vote of
5-5.
Number 1019
MR. TEAL indicated that the denial of the RPL does not
necessarily stop them from proceeding. If they have federal
receipt authority from another place, they can use it for the
grant. He pointed out that they do have additional federal
receipt authority, and the next RPL up for consideration is also
from the Office of the Governor. He noted that in the previous
legislative consideration, they did receive $54,000 in federal
receipt authority. He said that it is hard for him to say
precisely what federal receipt authority they have; the federal
fiscal year and the state fiscal year overlap. He indicated he
believes that for $5,500 they can begin the grant with existing
authority.
CHAIR PHILLIPS announced that the next RPL before the committee
was 01-0-8041 from the Office of the Governor, Alaska State
Commission for Human Rights, requesting $18,000 in federal
receipts.
MR. TEAL indicated that the Alaska State Commission for Human
Rights is requesting $18,000 for the fully funded Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) contract. He explained
that they received money in December of 1999 via an RPL, and they
are requesting that the additional federal receipts be made
available. They are also requesting that rapid action be taken -
again, RPL versus supplemental. He pointed out that they have
until September to spend the money they are requesting, and the
RPL authority is only until June.
Number 1140
MS. HALEY indicated that with the RPL, 01-0-8041, they are
confronted with the need for an increase for their federal
authorization for the money that they are most often receiving,
and those are monies from the EEOC for charge processing. She
stated that the vagaries of their contract with the EEOC are
based on the dollars that EEOC has available and the number of
cases they produce for them, which are not insignificant.
MS. HALEY explained that over the years they have submitted many
cases to the EEOC for which they have had no money to fund. In
this instance, they are pleasantly surprised that based on the
incredible amount of the work they did last year, the EEOC has
upgraded their contract. Instead of paying last year's initial
contract, which was 257 charges, this year they were notified
that the EEOC would pay for 332 charges. She noted that they
need to be able to draw down this particular contract where they
actually do the work and are actually reimbursed by the EEOC.
She added that she cannot answer the portion of the question
about the supplemental, because she is not sure of its tracking
or timing.
MS. PEACOCK surmised, again, that it was a timing issue regarding
the uncertainty of when the supplemental would be available. She
explained that they did receive $54,000 for the federal fiscal
year 1999 contract. Those funds have been received and expended,
and this would be an increase to the federal fiscal year 2000
contract.
Number 1241
REPRESENTATIVE CROFT wondered if they are up against the federal
authority.
MS. PEACOCK responded that the federal authority available in the
current fiscal year is $82,444. She explained that they have
already drawn $50,000 on their federal fiscal year 2000 EEOC
contract. She indicated that they have basically $32,000
available to them.
REPRESENTATIVE CROFT wondered if Ms. Peacock thought that it
would be used up in other areas.
MS. PEACOCK replied that it is possible. She explained that the
main concern, particularly with the HUD agreement, was that they
have funding available to receive and expend according to the
lifeline of that agreement.
Number 1293
REPRESENTATIVE CROFT made two motions. The first was to adopt a
conceptual amendment to amend RPL 01-0-8041 from $18,000 to
$23,500. The second was a motion for the approval of RPL 01-0-
8041.
CHAIR PHILLIPS asked if there was any objection. After an
objection was heard, she said the motion before the committee was
for the adoption of RPL 01-0-8041.
A roll call vote was taken. Senator Halford and Representatives
Davis, Croft and Phillips voted in favor of the approval of the
RPL, 01-0-8041. Senators Wilken, Parnell, Pearce and Phillips,
and Representatives Therriault and Bunde, voted against it.
Therefore, RPL 01-0-8041 failed approval by the Joint Legislative
Budget and Audit Committee by a vote of 6-4.
CHAIR PHILLIPS announced that the next RPL before the committee
was 06-0-0251 from the [Department of] Health & Social Services,
Probation Services, requesting $70,000 in statutory designated
receipts for the Star Schools Program.
Number 1400
JANET CLARKE, Director, Division of Administrative Services,
Department of Health & Social Services, stated that they became
aware of the funds on February 17, 2000, and the supplemental was
due February 9, 2000, so it was after the deadline. She
indicated that they do not object to putting it in the
supplemental; however, they do need to spend the funds by June
14, 2000, so there is a timing issue.
CHAIR PHILLIPS stated that without objection from the committee,
RPL 06-0-0251 would be placed before the Finance Committee for
consideration in the supplemental budget.
REPRESENTATIVE BUNDE noted that they are contracting with the
State of Washington for the program. He wondered if it is
because they are giving them a better deal.
MS. CLARKE replied that a special distance-learning school
district in the State of Washington has provided the contracts
for many years.
REPRESENTATIVE BUNDE indicated that he understands that, and he
asked again if they provide a better deal than, for instance, the
University of Alaska.
MS. CLARKE said she was not sure, and also did not know if they
have ever been offered the opportunity by the University of
Alaska.
OTHER COMMITTEE BUSINESS
Number 1455
CHAIR PHILLIPS expressed concern with the issue of follow-up with
regard to recommendations. She indicated that they are working
with Pat Davidson to put together a program that will take into
consideration follow-up by the Joint Legislative Budget and Audit
Committee.
REPRESENTATIVE DAVIS said he is pleased to see that they are
doing that.
SENATOR PHILLIPS pointed out that he believes it is the
responsibility of those who are requesting the audit to follow
through as well.
ADJOURNMENT
CHAIR PHILLIPS adjourned the Joint Legislative Budget and Audit
Committee meeting at 1:20 p.m.
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