Legislature(2013 - 2014)Anch Temporary LIO
07/17/2014 01:30 PM Senate LEGISLATIVE BUDGET & AUDIT
Note: the audio ![]()
and video ![]()
recordings are distinct records and are obtained from different sources. As such there may be key differences between the two. The audio recordings are captured by our records offices as the official record of the meeting and will have more accurate timestamps. Use the icons to switch between them.
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Approval of Minutes | |
| Executive Session | |
| Other Committee Business | |
| Audit Requests | |
| 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
July 17, 2014
1:53 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Anna Fairclough, Chair
Senator Click Bishop (via teleconference)
Senator Cathy Giessel
Representative Mike Hawker, Vice Chair (via teleconference)
Representative Kurt Olson
Representative Andy Josephson
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Kevin Meyer
Senator Donald Olson
Senator Mike Dunleavy (alternate)
Representative Alan Austerman
Representative Bob Herron
Representative Scott Kawasaki (alternate)
Representative Bill Stoltze (alternate)
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
EXECUTIVE SESSION
OTHER COMMITTEE BUSINESS
AUDIT REQUESTS
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
LAURA PIERRE, Staff
Senator Anna Fairclough
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified during discussion of the contract
proposal for the consultants.
KRISTIN CURTIS
Legislative Auditor
Division of Legislative Audit
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided information on the audit requests.
REPRESENTATIVE GERAN TARR
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented a request for an audit of the
State of Alaska food purchasing program.
REPRESENTATIVE WES KELLER
Alaska State Legislature
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented a request for an audit of the
Citizens' Advisory Commission on Federal Areas.
ACTION NARRATIVE
1:53:57 PM
CHAIR ANNA FAIRCLOUGH called the Legislative Budget and Audit
Committee meeting to order at 1:53 p.m. Senators Fairclough,
Giessel, and Bishop (via teleconference), and Representatives
Hawker (via teleconference), Olson, and Josephson were present
at the call to order.
1:54:10 PM
^Approval of Minutes
Approval of Minutes
1:54:55 PM
CHAIR FAIRCLOUGH announced that the first order of business
would be the approval of the minutes.
SENATOR GIESSEL made a motion to approve the minutes of March
28, 2014. There being no objection, the minutes from the
meeting of March 28, 2014 were approved.
^Executive Session
Executive Session
1:55:31 PM
CHAIR FAIRCLOUGH announced that the committee would move into
executive session to discuss confidential committee contracts.
SENATOR GIESSEL made a motion to move to executive session for
the purpose of discussing confidential committee contracts under
Uniform Rule 22(b)(1) and 22(b)(3). There being no objection,
the committee went into executive session at 1:56 p.m.
2:43:33 PM
CHAIR FAIRCLOUGH brought the committee back to order. Senators
Fairclough, Bishop (via teleconference), and Giessel, and
Representatives Hawker (via teleconference), Olson, and
Josephson were present at the call back to order.
^Other Committee Business
Other Committee Business
2:44:06 PM
CHAIR FAIRCLOUGH explained that the committee had been
discussing the pre-FEED stage of the proposed natural gas
pipeline, and that the legislature had expressed an interest in
involvement in this discussion. She relayed that the
administration had held discussions regarding municipal tax
issues with mayors, royalty issues, and marketing aspects for
LNG. She declared that, as the legislators desired
representation in these discussions, they had requested
expansion to the scope of work for representation by the
legislature.
2:44:52 PM
LAURA PIERRE, Staff, Senator Anna Fairclough, Alaska State
Legislature, testified that she had asked the current
consultants for a proposal to expand the scope of work beyond
their current contract and for a proposed monthly retainer fee
for the committee to consider versus the current daily rate.
2:45:33 PM
CHAIR FAIRCLOUGH proposed to expand the consultant contract by
$100,000.
SENATOR GIESSEL moved to amend the contract amount of Janak
Mayer from $250,000 to an amount not to exceed $350,000
excluding expenses. There being no objection, it was so
ordered.
SENATOR GIESSEL moved to amend the contract amount of Nikos
Tsafos from $250,000 to an amount not to exceed $350,000
excluding expenses. There being no objection, it was so
ordered.
CHAIR FAIRCLOUGH pointed out that the contracts should include
expenses, and not exclude expenses.
SENATOR GIESSEL withdrew her two motions for the contracts.
SENATOR GIESSEL moved to amend the contract amount of Janak
Mayer from $250,000 to an amount not to exceed $350,000
including expenses.
2:47:26 PM
REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON expressed his concern to the knowledge
of these expert consultants for payment in lieu of taxes. He
asked for an additional expert.
2:48:00 PM
There being no further objection to the motion, it was so
ordered.
2:48:09 PM
SENATOR GIESSEL moved to amend the contract amount of Nikos
Tsafos from $250,000 to an amount not to exceed $350,000
including expenses. There being no objection, it was so
ordered.
^Audit Requests
Audit Requests
2:48:33 PM
CHAIR FAIRCLOUGH announced that the next order of business would
be regarding the performance review audit of the Department of
Corrections.
2:48:40 PM
KRISTIN CURTIS, Legislative Auditor, Division of Legislative
Audit, Alaska State Legislature, requested an increase to the
performance review contract of the Department of Corrections
(DOC) for $300,000 not to exceed $325,000. She explained that
this would expand the current performance review to include a
focused review of health care service delivery and quality of
clinical care. This review would assess the degree to which DOC
policies and procedures were in line with industry best
practices, and, to the extent possible, recommend specific
practices and policies that would improve DOC performance.
2:49:25 PM
REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON asked if the performance reviews were
going to be farmed out, whereas other audits, specifically the
Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority (KABATA) audit, were done
internally. He asked which audits would be farmed out.
MS. CURTIS explained that the law stated that performance
reviews were to be led by experts and facilitated by the
Division of Legislative Audit in securing the experts and
helping draft the scope of the work. She said that it was not
routine to hire experts for audits.
2:50:44 PM
SENATOR GIESSEL moved to authorize an increase to the Department
of Corrections performance review contract amount from $300,000
to an amount not to exceed $325,000. There being no objection,
it was so ordered.
2:51:10 PM
CHAIR FAIRCLOUGH announced that the next order of business would
be for special audit requests.
REPRESENTATIVE HAWKER asked that the request be expedited as his
teleconference connection would soon be terminated.
2:51:56 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GERAN TARR, Alaska State Legislature, requested
an audit of the Alaska Grown purchasing preference program. She
directed attention to a recent review for economic opportunity
and food security, as Alaskans annually spend about $2.5 billion
on food, while only 5 percent of the food was grown in-state.
She declared that there was only a three to five day supply of
food in grocery stores. She questioned whether the purchasing
preference program was operating as statutorily intended. She
reported that a state agency making food purchases could
purchase Alaska Grown products as long as the purchase price was
within 7 percent of the out of state food price. She asked if
that was indeed happening, and whether it was necessary to
address any barriers. She offered her belief that a stronger
food system would increase food security. She noted that, as
more food was grown in-state, there was more that we could do.
2:53:50 PM
SENATOR GIESSEL moved to authorize an audit request of the State
Department Compliance with the Alaska Grown purchasing program.
REPRESENTATIVE HAWKER objected, and asked if the legislative
auditor had participated in the development of the scope of this
audit request.
CHAIR FAIRCLOUGH replied that she had participated.
REPRESENTATIVE HAWKER withdrew his objection.
There being no further objection, it was so ordered.
2:54:57 PM
REPRESENTATIVE JOSEPHSON asked for the reasons to question this
compliance.
REPRESENTATIVE TARR explained that she had been working with the
Alaska Food Policy Council, and that its strategic planning
sessions for strengthening food systems had identified this as a
problem area due to lack of enforcement.
2:56:42 PM
REPRESENTATIVE WES KELLER, Alaska State Legislature, said that
he embraced the concept that boards and commissions were
transparent. He expressed his comfort with this being a routine
audit request, declaring that it was a benefit to the state to
review the way money was being spent on the Citizens' Advisory
Commission on Federal Areas.
CHAIR FAIRCLOUGH asked if he had worked with the legislative
auditor in the development of the scope of this audit request.
REPRESENTATIVE KELLER replied that he had sent a memo requesting
the audit, but had not pursued it further; instead waiting for
the opportunity to verbally request it.
2:57:51 PM
MS. CURTIS said that there was not a problem with accepting the
audit request, and that she would approach it using standard
sunset criteria. She explained that the request verbiage was
less important for a commission, as there was a mandate already
established in statute.
2:58:29 PM
SENATOR GIESSEL moved to authorize an audit request of the
Citizens' Advisory Commission on Federal Areas. There being no
objection, it was so ordered.
2:59:22 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the
Legislative Budget and Audit Committee meeting was adjourned at
2:59 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| LB&A Agenda 7.17.14.pdf |
JBUD 7/17/2014 1:30:00 PM |
|
| DOC contract increase request memo 9July14.pdf |
JBUD 7/17/2014 1:30:00 PM |
|
| Keller - CACFA Audit Request.pdf |
JBUD 7/17/2014 1:30:00 PM |
|
| Tarr - Food Purchasing Audit Request.pdf |
JBUD 7/17/2014 1:30:00 PM |