Bill Text: MS HB1223 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Internal audit office; require universities and certain state agencies to establish.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2022-02-01 - Died In Committee [HB1223 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2022-HB1223-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2022 Regular Session
To: Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency; Appropriations
By: Representative Currie
House Bill 1223
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 25-65-7 AND 25-65-9, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE UNIVERSITIES AND CERTAIN STATE AGENCIES EMPLOY AN AGENCY INTERNAL AUDIT DIRECTOR AND IMPLEMENT A PROGRAM OF INTERNAL AUDITING; TO PROVIDE FOR AN INTERNAL AUDIT UNIT TO BE ESTABLISHED AT THE MISSISSIPPI COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOARD TO SERVE THE INTERNAL AUDIT NEEDS OF THE STATE'S COMMUNITY AND JUNIOR COLLEGES; TO PROVIDE THAT THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A COMMUNITY COLLEGE INTERNAL AUDIT UNIT SHALL BE SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION OF FUNDS SPECIFICALLY FOR SUCH PURPOSE TO THE MISSISSIPPI COMMUNITY COLLEGE BOARD; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 25-65-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
25-65-7. (1) The
provisions of this chapter shall only apply (a) to the following universities:
(i) Alcorn State University, (ii) Delta State University, (iii) Jackson State
University, (iv) Mississippi State University, (v) Mississippi State University
Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station, (vi) Mississippi State University
Cooperative Extension Service, (vii) Mississippi State University Forest and
Wildlife Research Center, (viii) Mississippi State University State Chemical
Laboratory, (ix) Mississippi University for Women, (x) Mississippi Valley State
University, (xi) The University of Mississippi, (xii) University of Mississippi
Medical Center, and * * * (xiii) The University of Southern
Mississippi; * * * and ( * * *b) to the following agencies: (i) the
Department of Finance and Administration, (ii) the State Tax Commission, (iii)
the Department of Education, (iv) the State Department of Health, (v) the Department
of Mental Health, (vi) the Department of Agriculture and Commerce, (vii) the
Mississippi Development Authority, (viii) the Department of Environmental Quality,
(ix) the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, (x) the Department of
Corrections, (xi) the Division of Medicaid, (xii) the Department of
Rehabilitation Services, (xiii) the Department of Public Safety, (xiv) the
Mississippi Employment Security Commission, (xv) the Mississippi Department of
Information Technology Services, (xvi) the Public Employees Retirement System,
(xvii) the Mississippi Department of Transportation, (xviii) the Mississippi
Gaming Commission and (xix) the Mississippi Department of Human Services.
(2) Provided the conditions of Section 25-65-9(3) are met, the requirements of this chapter shall also apply to the following community and junior colleges: (i) Coahoma Community College, (ii) Copiah-Lincoln Community College, (iii) East Central Community College, (iv) East Mississippi Community College, (v) Hinds Community College, (vi) Holmes Community College, (vii) Itawamba Community College, (viii) Jones County Junior College, (ix) Meridian Community College, (x) Mississippi Delta Community College, (xi) Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, (xii) Northeast Mississippi Community College, (xiii) Northwest Mississippi Community College, (xiv) Pearl River Community College, and (xv) Southwest Mississippi Community College.
SECTION 2. Section 25-65-9, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
25-65-9. (1) Except as
otherwise provided by subsection (2) of this section, each university * * * and state agency
shall * * * employ an agency
internal audit director who shall be appointed by the university president or
chancellor, * * * elected official or executive
director or his or her counterpart of a state agency without a governing
board or commission. The university president or chancellor * * * or
the agency head shall ensure that the university * * * or agency shall
employ * * * a sufficient number of professional
and support staff to implement an effective program of internal auditing.
Compensation, training, job tenure and advancement of internal auditing staff
shall be based upon the rules of the State Personnel Board for other business
employees in the system. The internal audit organization shall have organizational
status outside the agency's staff or line management functions or units subject
to audit, and shall be free of operational and management responsibilities that
would impair the ability to make independent audits of any aspects of the
agency's operations. An agency * * * or university * * * internal audit
director may be terminated by the appointing authority in accordance with State
Personnel Board rules and regulations for any state employee after a seven * * *-day notification period to the State
Auditor.
(2) The university
president or chancellor * * *, the community/junior college president or agency head of a
university * * * or state agency, respectively, may
outsource the internal audit function if he or she determines that it is
more cost efficient than establishing the audit personnel and procedures
provided in subsection (1) of this section. Internal audit services may not be
outsourced to the same firm or individual who performs independent audit or
other consulting services to the university * * * or agency.
(3) (a) Internal auditing of all community and junior colleges shall be mandatory, provided that the Legislature appropriates funds to the Mississippi Community College Board specifically for the purpose of staffing and maintaining an internal audit unit charged with the responsibility of scheduling and conducting audits of the community and junior colleges and reporting their findings, conclusions and recommendations to the presidents of the community and junior colleges. If the Legislature funds the internal audit function, internal auditors shall work with the presidents of each community and junior college to establish schedules, priorities and other practices necessary to make internal auditing effective.
(b) Any internal audit unit established by authority of this subsection shall be headed by an internal auditor appointed by the Mississippi Community College Board. The internal auditor and staff shall meet all qualifications set out for internal auditors in this chapter, and shall have the duties and responsibilities of internal auditors set out by this chapter. Any reference in this chapter to a community/junior college internal auditor shall mean the internal audit unit established by authority of this subsection.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2022.
