Committee Meeting Summary of Proceedings
Management Audit Committee
December 15, 2006
Room 302
Meeting
Attendance
Committee
Members Present
Representative
Randall Luthi, Chairman
Senator
Grant Larson, Vice Chairman
Senator
Kit Jennings
Senator
John Schiffer
Senator
Kathryn Sessions
Representative
Roy Cohee
Representative
Debbie Hammons
Representative
Pete Illoway
Representative
Marty Martin
Absent
Senator
Ken Decaria
Senator
John Hanes
Legislative
Service Office
Dave
Gruver, Assistant Director, Legal Services.
Barbara J. Rogers, Program Evaluation Manager; Kelley Pelissier, Senior
Program Evaluator; Paula Gordinier, Program Evaluator; Michael Swank, Program
Evaluator; Jim Reuss, Associate Program Evaluator; Karla Smith, Associate
Program Evaluator.
Others
Present
Please
refer to Appendix 1 to review the Committee Sign-in Sheet for a list of other
individuals who attended the meeting.
Written
Meeting Materials and Handouts
All meeting materials and
handouts provided to the Committee by the Legislative Service Office (LSO),
public officials, lobbyists, and the public are referenced in the Meeting
Materials Index, attached to the minutes. These materials are on file at the LSO and are
part of the official record of the meeting.
Call To Order
Chairman Luthi called the
meeting to order at 9:05 a.m. The
following sections summarize the Committee proceedings by topic. Please refer to Appendix 1 to review the
Committee Meeting Agenda.
Approval of
Minutes
Representative Illoway moved
to approve the minutes from the October 10, 2006 meeting. Representative Martin seconded and the motion
carried.
Executive
Session
Per W.S. 28-8-107 (c), Chairman
Luthi resolved the Committee into Executive Session for consideration of a
staff presentation on the draft report, A&I
HRD Role in State Hiring. The
Committee also discussed the report’s findings and recommendations with officials
from the Department of Administration and Information.
Open
Session
Chairman Luthi opened the
meeting. Representative Illoway moved
and Senator Jennings seconded a motion
to release the report A&I HRD Role in
State Hiring at noon on Monday, December 18, 2006. The motion carried unanimously. Chairman
Luthi asked if members wished to take action with regard to the report. Members directed that in addition to the
regular two-year follow-up, A&I be requested to provide information in one
year (December 2007) on the progress made with regard to the report’s
recommendations. Ms. Rogers said she
would advise the Department and the next Committee of this request.
Draft
Legislation
Representative Illoway moved
and Representative Martin seconded the motion to approve the bill. The motion carried unanimously. Chairman Luthi directed that this be a House
Bill.
07LSO-0127.C1
Committee discussion
followed, with Senator Schiffer suggesting that the steering committee be
staffed by the Department of Health, not LSO.
He also suggested that the costs of participating might be difficult for
some judges to absorb from their own individual court budgets, and that the
committee’s work and final report need not be rushed. Senator Sessions agreed, saying the
Legislature should look at results from this steering committee after the first
year and then consider extending the committee’s life.
Two members of the Governor’s
Advisory Board on Substance Abuse and Violent Crime spoke regarding the Board’s
support for the bill. Dr. Cary Heck
stated that the bill acknowledges the collaborative nature of the drug court
model, which crosses many jurisdictional
boundaries and is therefore a complex model to administer. Dr. Burke Grandjean noted that the current
funding mechanism, which is based on annual renewals of individual drug court
grants, creates instability and uncertainty for the courts and their staff
members. Referencing a letter from
Rodger McDaniel, chairman of the Board, he said the requirement for annual
renewal of funding gets in the way of creating a long-term vision for drug
courts. Dr. Grandjean recommended a more
routine funding mechanism for those drug courts where the data support a
decision to fund. Committee members
agreed that they did not choose to reference additional funding in this bill
and that making recommendations on this point would be part of the job of the
steering committee.
Senator Jennings moved and
Representative Martin seconded the motion to approve the bill. Amendments to the bill that the Committee
adopted include:
Page 2, line 16 Delete “chief”
Page 2, line 17 Delete “justice of the Supreme
Court” insert “board of judicial policy and
administration”
Page 2, line 18 Delete “chief justice” insert “board
of judicial policy and administration”
Page 4, line 8 Delete “October” insert “August”
Page 4, line 9 After “2007” insert “and August
1, 2008”
Page 4, line 11 Delete “2007” insert “2008”
Page 4, line 19 Delete “their court” insert “the
board of judicial policy and
administration budget”
Page 5, line 2 Delete “legislative”
Page 5, line 3 Delete “service office” insert “department
of health”
Representative Cohee stated
that he had considered a motion to add a prosecuting attorney to the membership
of the steering committee, but noted that there is representation from the
Attorney General’s Office on the committee and that should suffice. The question was called and the motion
carried, with Representative Illoway voting no.
This will be a Senate File.
Other Business
Chairman Luthi led the
Committee in a discussion of possible new topics, based on the four scoping
papers staff had prepared: The State’s
construction bid process; The retirement system; Coal-bed methane excess water
production; and OSHA and workplace fatalaties.
Ms. Rogers stated that the Committee had voted in July to undertake a
study of Kid Care CHIP and since staff can conduct two studies
simultaneously, the Committee could choose a second topic.
Representative Illoway stated
that the retirement system is a huge fund on which there are a great many
pressures. He added that other aspects
of state employment and employee benefits have been evaluated by this Committee
and it would be logical to finish that process with a study of retirement. After discussion of the alternatives, the Chairman
called for a show of hands on the topic of the retirement system. Based on the show of hands, the Chairman
declared the retirement system would be the second topic for study.
Regarding specific areas of
Committee interest, Senator Larson said for years, it has been said that 30
percent of employees fall into the about-to-retire category. He would like to know what the actual
retirement rate has been as well as whether there is an impending crisis in
this regard. He indicated interest in
knowing more about why people are choosing to retire when they do, and why some
choose to stay in their jobs. Senator
Schiffer would like the report to look into the stability, sustainability, and
solvency of the retirement fund, and other members suggested areas of interest. Senator Larson noted that the purpose of the
program evaluation function is to look at the effectiveness of a program or
structure and recommend whether certain aspects need to be emphasized,
de-emphasized, or changed, not to micro-manage responsibilities of the
Retirement Board and the system.
Organizational items.
Senator Larson stated that
traditionally, the role of presiding officer of Management Council alternates
with the chairmanship of the Management Audit Committee. According to that rotation, he said, the next
chairman of the Management Audit Committee would be a senator, and the 11th
member of the Committee would be from the House. He nominated Senator Schiffer as the interim
Chairman, to serve in that capacity until members of the next Management Audit
Committee are appointed and hold an organizational meeting. Representative Luthi seconded and the motion
carried. Senator Larson nominated
Representative Cohee as interim Vice Chairman; Representative Illoway seconded
and the motion carried.
Chairman Luthi requested that
Ms. Rogers give a summary of the Committee’s activities during its two-year
tenure. She said the Committee had met
eight times at locations around the state, had approved seven reports for
release, had considered three follow-ups, and had sponsored two pieces of
legislation in the 2006 Session, both having to do with the State Board of
Education and both of which were enacted.
Meeting
Adjournment
There being no further
business, Chairman Luthi adjourned the meeting at 3:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Representative Randall Luthi,
Chairman
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