Legislature(2013 - 2014)
01/14/2013 03:03 PM House BUD
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Approval of Minutes | |
| Executive Session | |
| Release of Audits | |
| Audit Request | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
LEGISLATIVE BUDGET AND AUDIT COMMITTEE
January 14, 2013
3:03 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Mike Hawker, Chair
Representative Mark Neuman
Representative Kurt Olson
Senator Bert Stedman, Vice Chair
Senator Hollis French
Senator Linda Menard
Senator Kevin Meyer (alternate)
OTHER LEGISLATORS PRESENT
Senator-elect Anna Fairclough
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Bill Thomas
Representative Mike Doogan
Representative Scott Kawasaki (alternate)
Representative Bill Stoltze (alternate)
Senator Lyman Hoffman
Senator Thomas Wagoner
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
EXECUTIVE SESSION
RELEASE OF AUDITS
AUDIT REQUESTS
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
KRISTIN CURTIS, Legislative Auditor
Legislative Audit Division
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided information on the audit request.
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:03:53 PM
CHAIR MIKE HAWKER called the Legislative Budget and Audit
Committee meeting to order at 3:03 p.m. Representatives Hawker,
Neuman, and Olson and Senators French, Menard, Meyer
(alternate), and Stedman were present at the call to order.
Also in attendance was Senator-elect Fairclough.
[NOTE: This is a meeting of the 27th Alaska State Legislature
Joint Legislative Budget & Audit Committee.]
^Approval of Minutes
Approval of Minutes
3:05:20 PM
CHAIR HAWKER announced that the first order of business would be
an approval of the minutes.
3:05:46 PM
SENATOR STEDMAN made a motion to approve the minutes of December
12, 2012. There being no objection, the minutes from the
meeting of December 12, 2012 were approved.
^Executive Session
Executive Session
3:06:04 PM
CHAIR HAWKER announced that the next order of business would be
to move into executive session.
3:06:21 PM
SENATOR STEDMAN 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 3:06 p.m.
3:26:13 PM
CHAIR HAWKER brought the committee back to order at 3:26 p.m.
Representatives Hawker, Neuman, and Olson and Senators French,
Menard, Meyer (alternate), and Stedman were present at the call
back to order.
^Release of Audits
Release of Audits
3:26:28 PM
SENATOR STEDMAN made a motion for the final audits of the Board
of Marine Pilots Sunset Review and the Department of
Administration, Office of Public Advocacy, Select Issues to be
released to the public for response. There being no objection,
it was so ordered.
^Audit Request
Audit Request
3:27:08 PM
CHAIR HAWKER announced that the last order of business would be
an audit request from Representative Thomas. He referenced the
letter from Representative Thomas which requested the audit
[Included in members' packets].
3:28:09 PM
SENATOR STEDMAN made a motion to approve the request for an
audit of the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC).
CHAIR HAWKER objected for discussion.
SENATOR MENARD asked for the date when the letter from
Representative Thomas had been delivered.
CHAIR HAWKER, in response to Senator Menard, explained that,
prior to the previous Legislative Budget and Audit Committee
meeting on December 13, 2012, Representative Thomas had
expressed his interest in requesting this audit. Chair Hawker
clarified that, at that time, he had asked that Representative
Thomas work with the auditors to prepare a letter which would
refine the audit objectives of the request. Chair Hawker
relayed that he had received the aforementioned letter about "a
week ago."
3:29:29 PM
SENATOR MENARD offered her belief that an announcement for when
the letter request had been received would have better clarified
the history of Representative Thomas's concerns.
CHAIR HAWKER expressed his thanks for the suggestion, noting
that he was assured the incoming chair of the Legislative Budget
and Audit Committee would also consider this suggestion for
future policies and procedures for the committee.
3:30:05 PM
SENATOR FRENCH, stating that he had been the recipient of an
APOC complaint in the previous election, asked if Representative
Thomas was also the subject of an APOC investigation.
CHAIR HAWKER relayed that Representative Thomas had previously
been investigated by APOC; however, he reported that he did not
know if APOC had any subsequent concerns with Representative
Thomas. He added that he was also aware of many of the APOC
issues which Representative Thomas addressed, including staff
turnover and difficulty with timely, consistent resolution of
issues. He emphasized that "this isn't a witch hunt. It's
something that's auditable, measureable, looking for fairness of
application of laws, and specifically turnover." He pointed out
that staff turnover can be an indicator of the operation by an
organization.
3:31:14 PM
SENATOR MEYER declared his support for the audit request and
asked how long it would take for the audit to be performed.
3:31:50 PM
KRISTIN CURTIS, Legislative Auditor, Legislative Audit Division,
Alaska State Legislature, explained that, although all of the
current special audit requests had been assigned, there were
nine upcoming sunset audits. She listed some of the larger
current special audits. She offered her belief that the APOC
audit request could be started by the end of summer, and in
response to Chair Hawker, completed by the next session.
3:32:55 PM
SENATOR MEYER declared that this projected timeline for the
audit request would allow time, prior to the next election, for
any necessary statutory changes.
3:33:12 PM
REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN expressed his support for the audit
request, and shared that APOC had testified on three occasions
to the House Administration Finance Subcommittee. He explained
that there were questions for APOC regarding the large increases
for its hiring budget that were not fully answered. Referring
to the aforementioned letter from Representative Thomas, he
suggested that these hiring budget increases could be included
in the audit request.
3:34:24 PM
CHAIR HAWKER asked if these hiring budget increases would be
included in the review.
MS. CURTIS, in response, explained that she would include it as
part of the audit request and objectives.
3:34:40 PM
SENATOR FRENCH asked if the Legislative Budget and Audit
Committee had previously requested an audit of APOC.
MS. CURTIS replied that APOC had last been audited in 1983.
3:35:00 PM
SENATOR MENARD asked to clarify that the APOC hiring budget had
increased 300 percent in the last five years.
REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN, in response, opined that there had been a
200 or 300 percent increase in its annual hiring budget, and
declared that, as the increase had been considerable, the
subcommittee had questioned APOC on numerous occasions.
SENATOR MENARD asked if that budget had finally been approved.
REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN stated that the House Finance Committee
had approved the budget, and, in response to Chair Hawker,
shared that both sides of the Legislature had also approved it.
3:35:51 PM
SENATOR MEYER pointed out that, although the focus was on the
agency, it was the APOC board that made the decisions for
discipline. He suggested that the audit request should also
include the APOC board, noting that the APOC board members had
also requested a stipend increase.
MS. CURTIS replied that she would ensure that the scope of the
audit was not too limited.
CHAIR HAWKER clarified that the intent of Representative Thomas
had been to include the function of "the agency as a whole where
it's appropriate."
CHAIR HAWKER removed his objection.
3:38:41 PM
CHAIR HAWKER announced that there being no further objection,
the audit request was approved.
3:39:05 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the
Legislative Budget and Audit Committee meeting was adjourned at
3:39 p.m.
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