An Act Regarding Audits of State Agency Expenditures To Recover Overpayments and Lost Discounts
Emergency preamble. Whereas, acts and resolves of the Legislature do not become effective until 90 days after adjournment unless enacted as emergencies; and
Whereas, this legislation provides for the identification and recovery of payments made in error by the State; and
Whereas, the current economic situation demands that the State take measures such as those required by this legislation as soon as possible; and
Whereas, in the judgment of the Legislature, these facts create an emergency within the meaning of the Constitution of Maine and require the following legislation as immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety; now, therefore,
Sec. 1. 5 MRSA §1622 is enacted to read:
§ 1622. Recovery of certain state agency overpayments
(1) When a discount available from the vendor was not applied;
(2) For a late payment penalty that was improperly applied by the vendor;
(3) For shipping costs that were computed incorrectly or incorrectly included in an invoice;
(4) For a state tax imposed pursuant to Title 36; or
(5) For a good or service the vendor did not provide.
(1) May provide for reasonable compensation for services provided under the contract, including compensation determined by the application of a specified percentage of the total amount recovered because of the consultant's audit activities or recommendations as a fee for services;
(2) May permit or require the consultant to pursue a judicial action in a court inside or outside this State to recover an overpaid amount; and
(3) To allow time for the performance of existing state payment auditing procedures, may not allow a recovery audit of a payment during the 180-day period after the date the payment was made.
A state agency shall expend or return to the Federal Government any federal money that is recovered through a recovery audit conducted under this section. The state agency shall expend or return the federal money in accordance with the rules of the federal program through which the agency received the federal money.
(1) The Governor;
(2) The State Auditor; and
(3) The Legislative Council.
Emergency clause. In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this legislation takes effect when approved.
summary
This bill requires the State Controller to contract with one or more consultants to conduct recovery audits of payments made by state agencies to vendors to identify payments made in error and to recommend improvements for state agency accounting. The bill enumerates authorized contract provisions and provides for the handling of confidential information by a contractor. The bill requires recovery audits of state agencies but allows the State Controller to exempt agencies with a low proportion of expenditures made to vendors. The bill requires agencies to use recovered money to pay the audit consultant responsible for the recovery and to return or expend recovered federal money according to the rules of the federal program through which the agency received the money. The bill requires the State Controller to forward the audit reports to the Governor, the State Auditor and the Legislative Council and to issue a summary report to the Legislature on a biennial basis.