JOINT COMMITTEE LEGISLATIVE BUDGET AND AUDIT August 10, 1999 1:50 P.M. MEMBERS PRESENT Representative Gail Phillips, Chair Representative Con Bunde Representative Eric Croft Representative Gary Davis Representative Eldon Mulder (alternate, by teleconference) Senator Drue Pearce (alternate) MEMBERS ABSENT Representative Gene Therriault Senator Randy Phillips, Vice Chair Senator Al Adams Senator Rick Halford Senator Sean Parnell Senator Gary Wilken COMMITTEE CALENDAR APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES June 14, 1999 REVISED PROGRAMS (RPL'S) EXECUTIVE SESSION Preliminary Audit Reports Final Audit Reports Alaska Railroad Corporation AUDIT REPORTS WITNESS REGISTER TOM MAHER, Legislative Assistant to Representative Gail Phillips Alaska State Legislature Capitol Building, Room 411 Juneau, Alaska 99801 Telephone: (907) 465-6873 DAVID TEAL, Legislative Fiscal Analyst Division of Legislative Finance State Office Building, Sixth Floor Juneau, Alaska 99811 Telephone: (907) 465-3795 POSITION STATEMENT: Introduced RPL KEN BISCHOFF, Director Division of Administrative Services Department of Public Safety P.O. Box 111200 Juneau, Alaska 9811-1200 Telephone: (907) 465-4336 POSITION STATEMENT: Spoke to RPL DAN SPENCER, Senior Policy Analyst Office of Management and Budget Office of the Governor P.O. Box 110020 Juneau, Alaska 99811-0020 Telephone: (907) 465-4681 POSITION STATEMENT: Spoke to RPL PAT DAVIDSON, Director Division of Legislative Audit State Office Building, Sixth Floor Juneau, Alaska 99801 Telephone: (907) 465-3830 POSITION STATEMENT: Spoke to Audit Reports DANE LARSON Division of Legislative Audit State Office Building, Sixth Floor Juneau, Alaska 99801 Telephone: (907) 465-3830 GOVERNOR BILL SHEFFIELD, President & CEO Alaska Railroad Corporation (ARRC) Department of Commerce and Economic Development PO Box 107500 Anchorage, AK 99510-7500 Telephone: (907)265-2403 PHYLLIS C. JOHNSON, Vice President & General Counsel Alaska Railroad Corporation Department of Commerce and Economic Development PO Box 107500 Anchorage, AK 99510-7500 Telephone: (907)265-2461 CHARLES COLE, Attorney & Contract Counsel Alaska Railroad Corporation PO Box 107500 Anchorage, AK 99510-7500 Telephone: (907)265-2461 ACTION NARRATIVE TAPE 99-5, SIDE A COMMITTEE CHAIR REPRESENTATIVE GAIL PHILLIPS called the Joint Committee on Legislative Budget and Audit meeting to order at 1:50 P.M. on August 10, 1999. Members present at the call of the Chair were Representatives Bunde, Croft, G. Davis, Mulder (teleconferenced) and Senator Pearce. APPROVAL OF MINUTES CHAIR GAIL PHILLIPS MOVED approval of the June 14, 1999 meeting minutes. There being NO OBJECTION, the minutes were adopted. REVISED PROGRAMS (RPL's) DAVID TEAL advised that there were two RPL's before the Committee: RPL Number: 12-0-0008 Department of Public Safety Alaska State Troopers BRU Special Projects Component $163,155 Federal Funds DAVID TEAL noted that the funding originates from a federal Bureau of Justice Assistance grant to support the identification and apprehension of criminals. The Department of Public Safety would use the money to hire a DNA expert for the Crime Laboratory. Additionally, the Department would contract for software for the automated fingerprint identification system. He explained that this funding had minimal "strings" attached. He noted that the Division of Legislative Finance does recommend approval of the RPL, however, he did point out that the Committee should be aware that there have been two similar RPL's in 1998 and 1999, which were approved by the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee (LBA). The Department to date has not hired a criminologist. There is a qualified candidate who could be appointed as soon as the funding becomes available. Mr. Teal pointed out that the grant is formula driven and it should have been included in the FY00 budget request. He recommended that future funding be included in the operating budget for this component. KEN BISHCHOFF offered to answer questions of the Committee. REPRESENTATIVE ELDON MULDER inquired if the amount requested was greater than the amount expected to be received by the federal government. KEN BISCHOFF replied that through a formula, each state received the same amount of money. There continues to be a question whether or not the United States Congress will continue to fund this component. It will not be automatic funding because it is a discretionary grant program occurring in the past three years. REPRESENTATIVE ELDON MULDER asked how the previous funding had been used. KEN BISCHOFF explained that those funds had been used for similar budget concerns. The Department had been unable to find a journey-level DNA specialist to fill the position. A grant revision has been submitted to hire a trainee. Additionally, the Division bought DNA related supplies with the funding. The original trainee is now qualified to move to the journey-level position and a new trainee position should then be hired. REPRESENTATIVE ELDON MULDER questioned what funding would be used for the new trainee position hire. KEN BISCHOFF replied it would continue to be federal funds. He believed that there would be enough funding to cover both positions this year. REPRESENTATIVE CON BUNDE inquired how the requested funding would impact past legislation that created a DNA data bank. KEN BISCHOFF believed that the funding would compatibly support the previous legislation. For the past several years, the Department has been collecting blood samples from inmates, but because of statute, those samples have not been processed. Being unable to process, they have not been converted to an electronic record stored in the database. The funding will help the Department process the backlog of samples, provide personnel to work with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to establish a local database and network with the national code system. This action would enable the State to start providing electronic searches both locally and nationally. REPRESENTATIVE CON BUNDE asked with this funding, would this be a "usable function" for law enforcement. KEN BISCHOFF commented that if the Department could keep this level of resource available, the backlogs could probably be caught up within a two-year period and then all the samples converted to a national standard record format for search purposes. REPRESENTATIVE GARY DAVIS understood that previous money had been used to prepare the Department for the purposed funding. The State now has arrived at the implementation stage. KEN BISCHOFF reiterated that this funding would allow the Department to work "full gear" to address the backlog and then move into the implementation stage. He pointed out that this type of offender has a two-thirds recidivism rate. If a database existed with these offenders, the odds are that the State would be better able to identify those offenders in new crimes. REPRESENTATIVE GARY DAVIS urged passage of the RPL. He emphasized that the Legislature had passed legislation to address the concern, however, never funded it. REPRESENTATIVE ELDON MULDER MOVED to adopt the requested funding. There being NO OBJECTION, RPL #12-0-0008 was adopted. CHAIR GAIL PHILLIPS noted that there was a second RPL pending and that the Committee would wait for information to arrive from the Office of the Governor regarding the concern. She noted that it would be placed further down the agenda. DAN SPENCER interjected that it would not be necessary to deal with that RPL at this time. He noted that there had been internal confusion and that the Office of Management and Budget would be able to use existing federal receipt authority to make it through the next month. CHAIR GAIL PHILLIPS stipulated that this RPL could be addressed at the next meeting. EXECUTIVE SESSION PAT DAVIDSON spoke to an ongoing ethics review of a former employee of the Alaska Railroad Corporation (ARRC). She recommended that the Committee go into Executive Session for the purposes of discussing these personnel related matters. REPRESENTATIVE GARY DAVIS MOVED that the LBA Committee go into Executive Session in accordance with Titles 24 and 44 for the purpose of discussing Audit Reports which are held confidential by law and confidential information regarding the Alaska Railroad Corporation. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered and the Committee moved into Executive Session at 2:10 P.M. CHAIR GAIL PHILLIPS requested that Tom Maher, Legislative Budget and Audit Committee staff, Pat Davidson, Legislative Audit, Dane Larson, Legislative Audit, Governor Bill Sheffield, Alaska Railroad Corporation, Phyllis Johnson, Alaska Railroad Corporation, and Charles Cole, Counsel for the Alaska Railroad Corporation, attend the Executive Session. The Committee resumed Open Session at 4:00 P.M. AUDIT REPORTS REPRESENTATIVE GARY DAVIS MOVED to release four preliminary audit reports: * State of Alaska/Single Audit FY98 * DOA/DCED/ASMI/AIDEA * DOA/Office of Public Advocacy/Public Guardian Program * DOC/Review of Select Internal Controls There being NO OBJECTION, they were released. REPRESENTATIVE GARY DAVIS MOVED that the final audits on the agenda be released to the public: * DCRA/Teller Bulk Fuel Facility Upgrade * OG/Select Public Relations * DOTPF/Anchorage International Airport * DNR/State Recorder's Office There being NO OBJECTION, the final audits were released for public view. REPRESENTATIVE GARY DAVIS MOVED to accept the audit request submitted by Representative John Cowdery regarding an audit of the Human Rights Commission. [Copy on File]. SENATOR DRUE PEARCE asked if this request had been made in regard to a specific case. She pointed out that there are many personal records involved with that agency. PAT DAVIDSON provided background regarding the concern. She noted that there had been an earlier audit request submitted by Representative Bunde to investigate the Human Rights Commission and that Representative Cowdery's request followed that. Typically, when the Legislative Audit Division undertakes an audit, they try to include as much information as possible. The Human Rights Commission would not allow the Division access to records that would provide enough information to answer Representative Cowdery's questions. PAT DAVIDSON added that Legislative Audit would be looking at the Human Rights Commission operations as a whole while at the same time addressing each of Representative Cowdery's concerns as it relates to the entire operation. CHAIR GAIL PHILLIPS asked if there were further questions. REPRESENTATIVE CROFT commented that Representative Bunde's request was appropriate, whereas, the current request before the Committee is specifically targeted at one particular complaint. He noted that he would vote for the approval of the audit, however, believed that it would be better left more generic. CHAIR GAIL PHILLIPS replied that with the exception of getting some generic questions answered, the auditors could not get the information they needed. PAT DAVIDSON agreed that Representative Bunde's request was very open and did not ask specific questions dealing with the Human Rights Commission. The Human Rights Commission attorneys were denying access to "dig" into the records. She assured that Representative Cowdery's request is not being used to look at one case in particular, but instead addressing the overall concern. REPRESENTATIVE CROFT ascertained that Representative Cowdery's request was asking for a "particular" case. He quoted from the request itself: "The attorney assigned to this case, subject to peer review and based on insufficient findings..." PAT DAVIDSON reiterated that the intent of the Legislative Audit Division was to take information regarding the entire Commission, and that the Commission was blocking the auditors from being able to answer those questions. CHAIR GAIL PHILLIPS requested that a motion be made for approval of the audit. REPRESENTATIVE GARY DAVIS restated his original motion. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered to accept Representative Cowdery's audit request. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 4:15 P.M.