Legislature(2001 - 2002)
01/24/2002 12:05 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, 2002
12:05 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Gene Therriault, Chair
Senator Lyman Hoffman
Senator Randy Phillips
Senator Jerry Ward
Senator Dave Donley
Senator Gary Wilken, alternate
Representative Hugh Fate, Vice Chair
Representative Ken Lancaster
Representative Reggie Joule
Representative Eldon Mulder
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative John Harris
Representative John Davies, alternate
Representative William K. "Bill" Williams, alternate
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
EXECUTIVE SESSION
AUDIT REPORTS
OTHER COMMITTEE BUSINESS
WITNESS REGISTER
PAT DAVIDSON, Legislative Auditor
Division of Legislative Audit
Alaska State Legislature
333 Willoughby Avenue
PO Box 113300
Juneau, Alaska 99811-3300
POSITION STATEMENT: Spoke on behalf of the Division of
Legislative Audit.
ACTION NARRATIVE
TAPE 02-1, SIDE A
Number 0001
CHAIR GENE THERRIAULT called the Joint Committee on Legislative
Budget and Audit meeting to order at 12:05 p.m. Members present
at the call to order were Senators Therriault, Hoffman,
Phillips, Ward, and Wilken, and Representatives Fate, Lancaster,
and Mulder. Senator Donley and Representative Joule came in
later.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
REPRESENTATIVE FATE made a motion for the approval of minutes
from the meeting on December 5, 2001.
CHAIR THERRIAULT asked whether there were any objections. There
being none, the minutes from the December 5, 2001 meeting were
approved as read.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
REPRESENTATIVE FATE made a motion to move to executive session
for the purpose of discussing confidential audit reports under
AS 24.20.301. There being no objection, the committee went into
executive session at 12:07 p.m.
CHAIR THERRIAULT brought the committee back to order at 12:35
p.m.
SENATOR PHILLIPS made a motion to move the committee back into
regular, open session. There being no objection, the committee
was brought back into regular session.
AUDIT REPORTS
Number 0043
SENATOR PHILLIPS made a motion for the preliminary audit for the
Alaska Court System, Judicial Salaries Review, to be released to
the appropriate agency for a response.
CHAIR THERRIAULT, hearing no objection, released the audit to
the court system for a response.
SENATOR PHILLIPS moved to release the following final audit
reports to the public: Department of Community and Economic
Development, Regulatory Commission of Alaska, Sunset Review;
Department of Public Safety, Council on Domestic Violence and
Sexual Assault, Sunset Review; Department of Public Safety,
Division of Fish and Wildlife Protection, Aircraft Section;
Department of Commerce and Economic Development, Board of
Dispensing Opticians, Sunset Review; Alaska Court System, Board
of Governors, Alaska Bar Association, Sunset Review.
CHAIR THERRIAULT asked if there were any objections to the
release of those final audits.
SENATOR WILKEN informed the committee that he is a shareholder
in a utility that has had, and currently has, a docket with the
Regulatory Commission of Alaska.
CHAIR THERRIAULT told the committee he had an aide working in
his office who is the son of an interested shareholder; however,
the aide would not be working on anything that could be a
conflict of interest.
CHAIR THERRIAULT, hearing no objection to the release of the
aforementioned final audits, released them to the public.
OTHER COMMITTEE BUSINESS
Number 0072
CHAIR THERRIAULT moved on to other committee business. He
pointed out that the school-cost study is ongoing, and he made
note of the quarterly report. He said that the oversight
committee, composed of Representative Fate, Pat Davidson, David
Teal, Eddy Jeans, and himself, was slated to have a
teleconference meeting with the consultants on February 1. He
asked Pat Davidson for an update on the Division of Family and
Youth Services (DFYS) audit.
Number 0080
PAT DAVIDSON, Legislative Auditor, Division of Legislative
Audit, Alaska State Legislature, said that distributed with the
audits was a memo explaining the current status of the audit.
She said that DFYS is working on gathering data to be looked at
as part of this review. She then told the committee about the
statewide self-assessment that must be completed before the
review group is assembled to review cases.
MS. DAVIDSON described the foregoing as a "gathering together of
external stakeholders" such as special masters from the court
system, public defenders, and assistant attorneys general who
have worked with DFYS. She said these "stakeholders" are being
asked what is working and what is not working. She said that
they are developing a "risk assessment." Ms. Davidson spoke of
a December meeting at which comments and information were
gathered together. She said that another meeting will take
place in February to review what happened in the first session
and to determine whether there should be any additions or
changes. Ms. Davidson said the review will be combined with the
data and sent to the federal agency as the planning process
continues. She made it clear that the case-file review is
scheduled for June of 2002. Ms. Davidson said that she and her
staff are actively monitoring the case-file review; training for
her staff is taking place. Ms. Davidson made it clear that she
and her staff are observing the process as it moves forward.
Number 0126
REPRESENTATIVE LANCASTER asked Ms. Davidson if the stakeholders
would visit with parents and children.
MS. DAVIDSON answered that when the actual case files are
reviewed, children and parents would be contacted.
Number 0134
SENATOR WARD made note that 50 cases from Anchorage and two
other places would be selected for review.
MS. DAVIDSON explained that the two other places had not yet
been determined. She said the "risky locations" would be
determined in the self-assessment.
SENATOR WARD commented that there might not be any cases from
the Kenai Peninsula.
MS. DAVIDSON responded, "It's possible."
Number 0144
REPRESENTATIVE LANCASTER followed up, saying it would make sense
to try to take some cases from the regional hubs in order to get
a broader perspective.
MS. DAVIDSON said, "I feel that we need to be involved." She
explained that at the end of the review process, the committee
will look to her and ask if the review was a good overall
assessment; she needs to be able to answer the committee's
question. According to Ms. Davidson, the goal of the federal
review is an overall assessment statewide. She said that if
there are questions after the review process, "they might have
developed very good tools" to look at specific offices.
Number 0174
CHAIR THERRIAULT brought up the Denali Commission and encouraged
committee members to attend an overview on the subject. He
claimed that he had been to the commission and discussed federal
money to the state, sustainability, and other issues.
CHAIR THERRIAULT spoke on the gas pipeline contract. He said
the committee is trying to assess "how much leftover money is
there" and said the money left over would be used to fund the
"Arctic Power initiative." He told the committee that the
amount would be between $600,000 and $700,000 out of the $1.5
million. Chair Therriault said he would be working with Senator
Donley and Representative Mulder on exact numbers. He said,
whether Arctic Power gets slightly less than originally planned
or the agencies are asked to absorb any shortfalls remains to be
seen.
SENATOR PHILLIPS brought up the September 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks. He asked how prepared the state is today, and what the
executive branch has proposed in the way of public health and
safety. He made it clear that he was not saying anything was
wrong, nor was he asking for an audit. He asked Ms. Davidson to
clarify.
Number 0219
MS. DAVIDSON told the committee that the executive branch was
looking to see if there were any criteria or guidelines at the
federal, state, or city levels describing priorities. She said
after that search for criteria there would be a question to the
departments asking, "Where are we?"
SENATOR PHILLIPS said that he felt there should be a body in the
legislature to overview and give another view of potential
risks. He said he "just wants to make sure we're covering all
our bases."
Number 0237
SENATOR WILKEN expressed interest in the committee looking into
the "70-percent requirement" whereby 70 percent of school
district monies go into instruction. He said that the
legislature and governor's 1998, education reform effort, was
linked to several school districts putting more into
administration than instruction. He conveyed how this situation
lead to "70 percent." He told how, slowly, school districts had
been made to shift more and more into instruction, and he
pointed out how the numbers had stabilized at 70 percent.
Senator Wilken explained that school districts that are not able
to achieve the 70 percent requirement submit their explanation
to the board of education which then rules as to the validity of
the claim.
SENATOR WILKEN said the committee needs to see the process by
which the board approves the waivers. He gave an example. He
said that the committee wants to know why schools cannot conform
to the 70 percent requirement and then have the school district
"do something in order to get that amount of instruction into
the school district."
SENATOR WILKEN asked that the board of education come and talk
to the committee about the criteria for their decision on
waivers. He then said that the stable number of 70 percent
would allow for annual tracking and comparison. He said the
purpose for the 70 percent requirement is "more teaching and
less administrating."
Number 0276
CHAIR THERRIAULT said that he had sat down and read through
state school board actions for a sense of the trend. He asked
Senator Wilken whether he wanted the Legislative Budget and
Audit Committee to hold the meeting, or whether perhaps it
should be specific education committees from the House and
Senate.
SENATOR WILKEN answered that he wanted not to "just-rubber stamp
these requests, so that next year you get the same thing." He
claimed the purpose of the request is to see what is wrong. He
told Chair Therriault that however he would like to do it was
fine with him.
CHAIR THERRIAULT said that the way he had been planning to deal
with it was to get together with the chairmen of the [House and
Senate committees that deal with] education and see how they
would like to be a part. He added that it may be that some of
the school districts are able to give a satisfactory explanation
as to why they cannot achieve the 70 percent requirement. He
agreed with Senator Wilken that it would be wrong to issue
waivers year after year to schools that do not meet the
requirement.
CHAIR THERRIAULT made it clear that he did not intend to
consider any Revised Programs-Legislative (RPLs) during the
session without consultation with the co-chairs. He said the
committee will most likely be meeting only once a month to deal
with audit issues.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, Chair
Therriault adjourned the Joint Legislative Budget and Audit
Committee meeting at 12:58 p.m.
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