Legislature(2001 - 2002)
01/24/2001 12:34 PM House BUD
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
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+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
JOINT COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE BUDGET AND AUDIT
January 24, 2001
12:34 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Gene Therriault, Chair
Senator Lyman Hoffman
Senator Randy Phillips
Senator Jerry Ward
Senator Gary Wilken, alternate
Representative Hugh Fate, Vice Chair
Representative John Harris
Representative Ken Lancaster
Representative Reggie Joule
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Dave Donley
Representative Eldon Mulder
Representative John Davies, alternate
Representative William Williams, alternate
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
COMMITTEE PROCEDURES OVERVIEW
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
EXECUTIVE SESSION
AUDIT REPORTS
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 01-1, SIDE A
Number 0001
CHAIR THERRIAULT called the Joint Committee on Legislative
Budget and Audit meeting to order at 12:34 p.m. Members present
at the call to order were Senators Therriault, Hoffman,
Phillips, and Wilken, and Representatives Fate, Harris, Joule,
and Lancaster.
CHAIR THERRIAULT stated there was a short agenda for today's
meeting. He mentioned that David Teal, Legislative Fiscal
Analyst, Legislative Finance Division, Alaska State Legislature,
was not present due to the lack of RPL (Revised Program
Legislative) requests from the administration. He said that the
committee has preliminary audits that will be available for
discussion in executive session. After executive session, the
committee will make a motion to release the audits that were
decided upon.
CHAIR THERRIAULT described the membership on the committee as
being five members from the House and five from the Senate. In
addition, there are three alternate members; Senator Wilken and
Representatives Williams and Davies. For the purpose of voting,
if both Representatives Williams and Davies are present,
Representative Williams will take precedent over Representative
Davies.
CHAIR THERRIAULT explained that it takes a quorum of six in
order to take an affirmative action for RPL's, release of
audits, and authorizing or improving an audit request. There
must be at least one vote from each body [House and Senate].
For example, if there are only six committee members present,
(five Senators and one Representative), one vote must come from
the House in order for an action to be approved.
CHAIR THERRIAULT explained that RPL's are adjustments made to
the current year's budget. In the front section of the
operating budget, the Legislative Budget & Audit Committee
(LB&A) is given specific authorization by the full legislature
to make certain adjustments to the budget. This is renewed each
year. Therefore, the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee can
be given authorization to make adjustments to different fund
sources. Currently, the only authorization the Legislative
Budget and Audit Committee has is for adjustments in receipt and
expenditure of federal funds and SDPR (Statutorily Designated
Program Receipts).
VICE CHAIR FATE made a motion to approve the minutes from the
December 6, 2000 meeting.
CHAIR THERRIAULT asked whether there were any objections. There
being none, the minutes from the December 6, 2000 meeting were
approved as read.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
VICE CHAIR FATE made a motion to move to executive session for
the purpose of discussing confidential audit reports under
Alaska Statute 24.23.01. There being no objection, the
committee went into executive session at 12:38 p.m.
CHAIR THERRIAULT requested that the following people attend the
executive session: Pat Davidson, Jim Griffin, Nikki Rouget,
(Legislative Audit Division Staff), and Heather Brakes,
(Legislative Budget and Audit Committee Aide).
VICE CHAIR FATE made a motion to move back into regular session.
There being no objection, the committee reconvened regular
session at 1:10 p.m.
AUDIT REPORTS
Number 0393
VICE CHAIR FATE made a motion to release the preliminary reports
to the agencies for response.
CHAIR THERRIAULT clarified that the report to be released was
the Department of Corrections - Board of Parole Preliminary
Audit. There being no objection, this audit was released to the
agency for comment.
VICE CHAIR FATE made a motion to release the final audit reports
to the public.
CHAIR THERRIAULT stated that the audits to be released were:
DCED/CSED Performance (08-4593-01) - Department of Revenue,
Child Support Enforcement Division, Selected Issues;
DHSS/DMHDD/DMA Follow-up (06-4599-01) - Department of Health and
Social Services, Divisions of Mental Health and Developmental
Disabilities and Medical Assistance, Community Mental Health
Center Programs, Follow-Up Report; DCED/Board of Dental
Examiners (08-20002-01) - Department of Community and Economic
Development, Board of Dental Examiners, Sunset Review;
DFG/Mariculture (11-30002-01) -Department of Fish and Game,
Department of Natural Resources, Office of the Governor,
Division of Governmental Coordination, Mariculture Development
and the Aquatic Farm Act. There being no objection, those
audits were released to the public.
VICE CHAIR FATE made a motion to approve the audit requests.
CHAIR THERRIAULT stated that Senator Donley had made two audit
requests. He explained that the Legislative Budget and Audit
Committee normally attempts to provide information to the
requestor without going to a formalized audit. There are audit
requests pending. But, even if an audit request was approved at
this time, the audit probably would not be completed before the
next legislative session. If possible, we try to work with the
audit requestors to see if Pat Davidson and the Division of
Legislative Audit have the information. Sometimes a call from
the Division of Legislative Audit to an agency regarding the
potential threat of an audit will cause the agency to work with
the requestor. Chair Therriault noted that he has suggested
those interested in making an audit request contact the Division
of Legislative Audit before submitting the request. Requestors
can also work with the Division of Legislative Audit on "framing
the question," to ensure that the audit will be done quickly.
CHAIR THERRIAULT said there were no audit requests to approve or
consider at this time.
REPRESENTATIVE JOULE asked, when audit requests are made and put
forth to the committee, if they will be put in members'
committee packets.
CHAIR THERRIAULT confirmed that the audit requests would be put
in the committee packets. He reminded committee members that
audit requests require a vote of six to be approved. In regard
to the committee's earlier discussion on the confidentiality of
the audit reports, Chair Therriault reminded the committee that
the red reports [confidential preliminary reports] that were
handed out, needed to be returned to Pat Davidson, Legislative
Auditor. Those committee members interested in reviewing a
preliminary audit should contact Pat Davidson or Senator
Therriault's office. He pointed out that the preliminary audit
will need to be returned after viewing.
ADJOURNMENT
CHAIR THERRIAULT adjourned the Joint Legislative Budget and
Audit Committee meeting at 1:15 p.m.
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