Legislature(2015 - 2016)BARNES 124
02/26/2015 03:30 PM House LEGISLATIVE BUDGET & AUDIT
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Approval of Minutes | |
| Audit: Alaska State Legislature Financial Statement and Audit Report | |
| Executive Session | |
| Release of Confidential Preliminary Statewide Single Audit Fy 14 | |
| Other Committee Business | |
| 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
February 26, 2015
3:34 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Mike Hawker, Chair
Representative Kurt Olson
Representative Lance Pruitt
Representative Steve Thompson
Representative Sam Kito
Representative Mark Neuman (alternate)
Senator Anna MacKinnon, Vice Chair
Senator Cathy Giessel
Senator Bert Stedman
Senator Pete Kelly (alternate)
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Lyman Hoffman
Senator Click Bishop
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
AUDIT: ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE FINANCIAL STATEMENT AND AUDIT
REPORT
EXECUTIVE SESSION
RELEASE OF CONFIDENTIAL PRELIMINARY STATEWIDE SINGLE AUDIT FY 14
OTHER COMMITTEE BUSINESS
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
KRISTIN CURTIS
Legislative Auditor
Division of Legislative Audit
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided information on the Alaska State
Legislature Financial Statement and Audit Report.
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:34:56 PM
CHAIR MIKE HAWKER called the Legislative Budget and Audit
Committee meeting to order at 3:34 p.m. Representatives Hawker,
Pruitt, Thompson, and Kito and Senators MacKinnon, Giessel, and
Stedman were present at the call to order. Representatives
Olson and Neuman (alternate) and Senator Kelly (alternate)
arrived as the meeting was in progress.
^Approval of Minutes
Approval of Minutes
3:35:56 PM
CHAIR HAWKER announced that the first order of business would be
the approval of the minutes from the Legislative Budget and
Audit Committee meetings of January 21, 2015 and February 12,
2015.
SENATOR MACKINNON made a motion to approve the minutes of
January 21, 2015. There being no objection, the minutes from
the meeting of January 21, 2015 were approved.
SENATOR MACKINNON made a motion to approve the minutes of
February 12, 2015. There being no objection, the minutes from
the meeting of February 12, 2015 were approved.
^Audit: Alaska State Legislature Financial Statement and Audit
Report
Audit: Alaska State Legislature Financial Statement and Audit
Report
3:37:06 PM
CHAIR HAWKER announced that the next order of business would be
the preliminary review of the Alaska State Legislature Financial
Statement and Audit Report.
3:37:24 PM
KRISTIN CURTIS, Legislative Auditor, Division of Legislative
Audit, Alaska State Legislature, explained that each member had
a copy of the Alaska State Legislature's schedule of
appropriations, expenditures, and encumbrances, and the schedule
of revenues for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2014. She
relayed that this audit was conducted annually, and that the
independent auditor had provided an unmodified opinion that the
schedules were free from material misstatement.
3:38:10 PM
MS. CURTIS, in response to Chair Hawker, directed attention to
the letter attached to the audit report, as required by auditing
standards, which listed several things required by auditors to
report.
CHAIR HAWKER asked if the letter referenced any items of concern
to the committee.
MS. CURTIS replied that there were no items of concern.
CHAIR HAWKER declared that acceptance of the report required no
further action on behalf of the committee.
^Executive Session
Executive Session
3:38:55 PM
CHAIR HAWKER announced that the next order of business would be
an executive session.
3:39:00 PM
SENATOR MACKINNON made a motion to move to executive session
under Uniform Rule 22 for the purpose of discussing confidential
audit reports under AS 24.20.301. There being no objection, the
committee went into executive session at 3:39 p.m.
3:39:24 PM
The committee took an at-ease from 3:39 p.m. to 4:34 p.m.
4:34:34 PM
CHAIR HAWKER brought the committee back to order at 4:34 p.m.
Representatives Hawker, Pruitt, Thompson, Olson, and Kito and
Senators MacKinnon, Giessel, Stedman, and Kelly (alternate),
were present at the call to order.
^Release of Confidential Preliminary Statewide Single Audit FY
14
Release of Confidential Preliminary Statewide Single Audit FY 14
4:35:04 PM
CHAIR HAWKER announced that the next order of business would be
a release of the confidential preliminary audit to the agencies
for response.
SENATOR MACKINNON made a motion for the preliminary audit for
the Statewide Single Audit for the Fiscal Year ended June 30,
2014 to be released to the appropriate agencies for response.
There being no objection, it was so ordered.
^Other Committee Business
Other Committee Business
4:35:40 PM
CHAIR HAWKER announced that the next order of business would be
a general audit services contract approval request [Included in
members' packets].
MS. CURTIS asked that the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee
consider and approve a request for the Division of Legislative
Audit to solicit and award a contract for general audit services
in support of the statewide audit for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015.
She explained that the division would like to hire contract
auditors to work under its supervision in order to help address
vacancies and control of the workload. She reiterated that this
request had been granted over the past few years to help control
the workload.
CHAIR HAWKER asked if the amount requested was consistent with
the amounts previously needed.
MS. CURTIS replied that the amount requested had fluctuated from
$50,000 up to $250,000. She offered her belief that the current
request for $150,000 would meet the needs of the division for
this year.
CHAIR HAWKER asked if the legislature had eliminated this item
from its upcoming budget. He asked if Ms. Curtis had been
directed to seek a change in the audit relationship for the fees
charged to the administration for the services performed, and to
increase those fees by $450,000.
MS. CURTIS replied that this particular contract had not been
referenced in the budget, as it was reviewed annually for its
need and available authorization.
CHAIR HAWKER asked what had been removed from the budget.
MS. CURTIS replied that her division had asked for an increment
for the Integrated Resource Information System (IRIS) system,
which was coming on-line on July 1, 2015. She stated that this
would require procurement of IT expertise in order to audit the
system, as there was no one currently on staff with this
expertise. She reported that part of this request had been
allowed, and part had been denied. She shared that a one-time
IT increment for the Medicaid Management Information System
(MMIS) audit from the previous year, which had not been
performed due to defects in the system, had been allowed to roll
forward. She said that this $100,000 had been allowed for
application to the IRIS audit.
CHAIR HAWKER summarized that the requested $150,000 was for the
FY 15 audit, and had not been removed from future budgets.
MS. CURTIS explained that this request was for FY 15
authorization that was still available. She said that the audit
services would be mostly completed by the end of June.
CHAIR HAWKER stated that the FY 16 request could be addressed at
a later date.
4:38:55 PM
SENATOR MACKINNON moved to authorize the Legislative Auditor to
solicit and award a contract for the statewide single audit
assistance not to exceed $150,000. There being no objection, it
was so ordered.
4:39:31 PM
CHAIR HAWKER announced that the last few items on the agenda
were updates on consulting services driven by the education bill
[House Bill 278] during the previous year. The first was a
review of the education foundation formula and the second was a
more macro approach to the overall approach of statewide funding
to education, which included requirements and needs, and would
offer counsel for a methodology to adapt or incorporate into the
current school funding approach. He shared that the procurement
committee had selected a recipient to the request for proposal
(RFP). He explained that the contract required a public hearing
to provide the consultants a scoping venue and offer the public
the opportunity to weigh in with the consultants. He reported
that this education consultant public hearing would be held on
Tuesday, March 10, at 7:30 a.m.
CHAIR HAWKER directed attention to the RFP for a micro review of
the factors within the current school funding formula. He
stated that there had not been any responses to this consultant
RFP request. He mentioned the Ketchikan lawsuit brought
questions to the foundation formula, noting that it was not
clear what would need to be reviewed until that suit was
stabilized. He allowed that the RFP contract for the
aforementioned macro view of the education funding included a
"pretty sophisticated review of the foundation formula."
CHAIR HAWKER pointed out that the next House Bill 30 performance
review would be for the Department of Education and Early
Development and school [foundation formula] funding.
4:42:56 PM
CHAIR HAWKER stated that, after consultation, the committee had
decided not to go forward with the RFP request for a micro
review of the school funding formula at this time, although he
allowed that it was a future possibility dependent on the
outcome of the Ketchikan lawsuit. He pointed out that this
would be dependent on funding from the FY 16 budget. He
expressed his enthusiasm for the aforementioned consultant
group, stating "they're really an impressive group."
SENATOR MACKINNON asked if it was necessary to notify the
Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate that there
had not been a response to an RFP, and that, subsequently, a
contract would not be let in accordance with the deadline.
CHAIR HAWKER offered to send a letter to the presiding officers
to inform them of the situation, as a matter of courtesy;
although, he opined that there was not a formal requirement to
do so.
4:45:02 PM
CHAIR HAWKER addressed the current House Bill 30 performance
review for Department of Health and Social Services, and noted
that this process required public hearings in Anchorage,
Fairbanks, Juneau, and other locations designated by the
committee. He stated that the Juneau public meeting for this
performance review was planned for March 17, at 7:30 a.m. and
that there would be public noticing. He reiterated that the
public meeting for statewide education funding would be on March
10.
4:46:03 PM
CHAIR HAWKER reported that the next performance review would be
for the Department of Education and Early Development. He
lauded a methodology developed by Senator MacKinnon for the
previous scoping, and suggested that this process be repeated.
He asked that Senator MacKinnon, Senator Giessel, and
Representative Kito join him, as the chair, on a subcommittee to
work with the auditor on the audit scoping for the House Bill 30
performance review on the Department of Education and Early
Development.
4:47:06 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the
Legislative Budget and Audit Committee meeting was adjourned at
4:47 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Agenda_LBA_26Feb15.pdf |
JBUD 2/26/2015 3:30:00 PM |
|
| leg audit contract memo 19Feb15.pdf |
JBUD 2/26/2015 3:30:00 PM |