Bill Text: MS HB711 | 2014 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: State Auditor; authorize to audit RESTORE Act funds and charge actual cost of agency audits.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Failed) 2014-02-17 - Died On Calendar [HB711 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2014-HB711-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2014 Regular Session
To: Appropriations
By: Representative Frierson
House Bill 711
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 7-7-81, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE THE STATE AUDITOR TO AUDIT PROJECTS, ENTITIES AND THEIR USE OF FUNDS FROM THE FEDERAL RESTORE ACT OF 2012; TO AMEND SECTION 7-7-211, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE THE STATE AUDITOR TO AUDIT THE FINANCIAL AFFAIRS OF STATE AGENCIES AS DEEMED NECESSARY BY THE AUDITOR; TO PROVIDE THAT THE STATE THROUGH APPROPRIATIONS SHALL PAY FOR THE PART OF THE COST TO THE DEPARTMENT OF AUDIT OF AUDITING LOCAL GOVERNMENTS THAT EXCEEDS THE ACTUAL COST OF THE SERVICES; TO AUTHORIZE THE STATE AUDITOR TO CONDUCT AUDITS OF ANY STATE-FUNDED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS AND TO BILL THE OVERSIGHT AGENCY FOR REASONABLE, ACTUAL, AND NECESSARY EXPENSES RELATED TO THESE AUDITS; TO AUTHORIZE THE AUDITOR TO GATHER, AUDIT, OR REVIEW DATA AND INFORMATION FROM THE MISSISSIPPI DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, THE RECIPIENT BUSINESSES, OR ANY OTHER PRIVATE, PUBLIC, OR NONPROFIT ENTITY WITH RELEVANT INFORMATION TO THE AUDIT PROJECT, AND TO PUBLISH THOSE AUDIT REPORTS AS THEY ARE COMPLETED; TO AMEND SECTION 7-7-213, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REMOVE THE HOURLY LIMIT ON THE AMOUNTS TO BE CHARGED BY THE AUDITOR FOR PERFORMING AUDITS AND OTHER SERVICES; TO PROVIDE THAT COSTS PAID FOR INDEPENDENT SPECIALISTS OR FIRMS CONTRACTED BY THE STATE AUDITOR SHALL BE PAID BY THE AUDITED ENTITY THROUGH THE STATE AUDITOR SHALL INCLUDE A THREE PERCENT ADMINISTRATIVE COST RECOVERY CHARGE FOR THE REVIEW AND PUBLISHING OF THESE AUDITS AND OTHER SPECIALIST SERVICES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 7-7-81, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
7-7-81. (1) The State
Auditor shall have the authority to preaudit or postaudit, conduct performance
audits and reviews, investigate projects, entities and their use of any funds
provided to the state or any of its agencies or subdivision, or any nonprofit
organization, from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,
the federal Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and
Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act), and * * *
their successors. If
sufficient resources are available, the State Auditor shall maintain an
official Web site and provide public access to copies of audit reports of state
and local government entities receiving funds from the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act and its successors. The State Auditor shall have the
authority to recover costs associated with auditing and investigating such
projects and funds within the limits of federal law from any such entity that
receives such funds. In addition, the State Auditor shall have the authority
to contract with qualified certified public accounting firms to perform
selected engagements under this section, if funds are made available for such
contracts by the Legislature, the governmental entities covered by this section
or by the federal government. All files, working papers, notes, correspondence
and any other data compiled by the audit firms in connection with the
engagements shall be available upon request, without cost, to the State Auditor
for examination and abstracting during the normal business hours of any
business day.
(2) A special fund, to be designated as the "Auditor's Enhanced Accountability Fund," shall be created within the State Treasury. The fund shall be maintained by the State Treasurer as a separate and special fund, separate and apart from the General Fund of the state. Initial funds shall be deposited from each governing entity receiving American Recovery and Reinvestment Act monies based on a sliding scale to be determined by the State Auditor. Subsequent and additional funds may be deposited from any source made available to the Department of Audit for such purposes. Unexpended American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or RESTORE Act monies remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse into the State General Fund, and any interest earned or investment earnings on amounts in the fund shall be deposited into such fund, but shall be held to pay for postaudit and investigative costs related to American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or RESTORE Act expenditures and programs. Monies deposited into the fund shall be disbursed, in the discretion of the State Auditor, to pay the allowable costs of additional preaudit, postaudit, investigative, or other allowable or accountability requirements not funded through regular appropriations or special fund billing provided in this section. Monies in the special fund may be used to reimburse reasonable actual and necessary costs incurred by the State Auditor to accomplish objectives under this section. The State Auditor shall maintain a specific accounting of actual costs incurred for each project for which reimbursements are sought and shall provide a report to the Legislature within sixty (60) days from the end of each fiscal year regarding the nature and amounts of all expenditures. The Department of Audit may escalate its budget and expend such funds in accordance with rules and regulations of the Department of Finance and Administration in a manner consistent with the escalation of federal funds.
SECTION 2. Section 7-7-211, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
[Until September 30, 2014, this section shall read as follows:]
7-7-211. The department shall have the power and it shall be its duty:
(a) To identify and define for all public offices of the state and its subdivisions generally accepted accounting principles or other accounting principles as promulgated by nationally recognized professional organizations and to consult with the State Fiscal Officer in the prescription and implementation of accounting rules and regulations;
(b) To provide best practices, for all public offices of regional and local subdivisions of the state, systems of accounting, budgeting and reporting financial facts relating to said offices in conformity with legal requirements and with generally accepted accounting principles or other accounting principles as promulgated by nationally recognized professional organizations; to assist such subdivisions in need of assistance in the installation of such systems; to revise such systems when deemed necessary, and to report to the Legislature at periodic times the extent to which each office is maintaining such systems, along with such recommendations to the Legislature for improvement as seem desirable;
(c) To study and analyze existing managerial policies, methods, procedures, duties and services of the various state departments and institutions upon written request of the Governor, the Legislature or any committee or other body empowered by the Legislature to make such request to determine whether and where operations can be eliminated, combined, simplified and improved;
(d) To postaudit each year and, when deemed necessary, preaudit and investigate the financial affairs of the departments, institutions, boards, commissions or other agencies of state government, as part of the publication of a comprehensive annual financial report for the State of Mississippi, or as deemed necessary by the State Auditor. In complying with the requirements of this paragraph, the department shall have the authority to conduct all necessary audit procedures on an interim and year-end basis;
(e) To postaudit and, when deemed necessary, preaudit and investigate separately the financial affairs of (i) the offices, boards and commissions of county governments and any departments and institutions thereof and therein; (ii) public school districts, departments of education and junior college districts; and (iii) any other local offices or agencies which share revenues derived from taxes or fees imposed by the State Legislature or receive grants from revenues collected by governmental divisions of the state; the cost of such audits, investigations or other services to be paid as follows: Such part shall be paid by the state from appropriations made by the Legislature for the operation of the State Department of Audit as may exceed the sum of Thirty Dollars ($30.00) per man hour for the services of each staff person engaged in performing the audit or other service plus the actual cost of any independent specialist firm contracted by the State Auditor to assist in the performance of the audit, which sum shall be paid by the county, district, department, institution or other agency audited out of its general fund or any other available funds from which such payment is not prohibited by law. Costs paid for independent specialists or firms contracted by the State Auditor shall be paid by the audited entity through the State Auditor to the specialist or firm conducting the postaudit.
Each school district in the state shall have its financial records audited annually, at the end of each fiscal year, either by the State Auditor or by a certified public accountant approved by the State Auditor. Beginning with the audits of fiscal year 2010 activity, no certified public accountant shall be selected to perform the annual audit of a school district who has audited that district for three (3) or more consecutive years previously. Certified public accountants shall be selected in a manner determined by the State Auditor. The school district shall have the responsibility to pay for the audit, including the review by the State Auditor of audits performed by certified public accountants;
(f) To postaudit and, when deemed necessary, preaudit and investigate the financial affairs of the levee boards; agencies created by the Legislature or by executive order of the Governor; profit or nonprofit business entities administering programs financed by funds flowing through the State Treasury or through any of the agencies of the state, or its subdivisions; and all other public bodies supported by funds derived in part or wholly from public funds, except municipalities which annually submit an audit prepared by a qualified certified public accountant using methods and procedures prescribed by the department;
(g) To make written
demand, when necessary, for the recovery of any amounts representing public
funds improperly withheld, misappropriated and/or otherwise illegally expended
by an officer, employee or administrative body of any state, county or other
public office, and/or for the recovery of the value of any public property
disposed of in an unlawful manner by a public officer, employee or
administrative body, such demands to be made (i) upon the person or persons
liable for such amounts and upon the surety on official bond thereof, and/or
(ii) upon any individual, partnership, corporation or association to whom the
illegal expenditure was made or with whom the unlawful disposition of public
property was made, if such individual, partnership, corporation or association
knew or had reason to know through the exercising of reasonable diligence that
the expenditure was illegal or the disposition unlawful. Such demand shall be
premised on competent evidence, which shall include at least one (1) of the
following: (i) sworn statements, (ii) written documentation, (iii) physical
evidence, or (iv) reports and findings of government or other law enforcement
agencies. Other provisions notwithstanding, a demand letter issued pursuant to
this paragraph shall remain confidential
by the State Auditor until the individual against whom the demand letter is
being filed has been served with a copy of such demand letter. If, however,
such individual cannot be notified within fifteen (15) days using reasonable
means and due diligence, such notification shall be made to the individual's
bonding company, if he or she is bonded. Each such demand shall be paid into
the proper treasury of the state, county or other public body through the
office of the department in the amount demanded within thirty (30) days from
the date thereof, together with interest thereon in the sum of one percent (1%)
per month from the date such amount or amounts were improperly withheld,
misappropriated and/or otherwise illegally expended. * * * If, however, such person or
persons or such surety shall refuse, neglect or otherwise fail to pay the
amount demanded and the interest due thereon within the allotted thirty (30)
days, the State Auditor shall have the authority and it shall be his duty to institute
suit, and the Attorney General shall prosecute the same in any court of the
state to the end that there shall be recovered the total of such amounts from
the person or persons and surety on official bond named therein; and the
amounts so recovered shall be paid into the proper treasury of the state,
county or other public body through the State Auditor. In any case where
written demand is issued to a surety on the official bond of such person or
persons and the surety refuses, neglects or otherwise fails within one hundred
twenty (120) days to either pay the amount demanded and the interest due
thereon or to give the State Auditor a written response with specific reasons
for nonpayment, then the surety shall be subject to a civil penalty in an amount
of twelve percent (12%) of the bond, not to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars
($10,000.00), to be deposited into the State General Fund;
(h) To investigate any alleged or suspected violation of the laws of the state by any officer or employee of the state, county or other public office in the purchase, sale or the use of any supplies, services, equipment or other property belonging thereto; and in such investigation to do any and all things necessary to procure evidence sufficient either to prove or disprove the existence of such alleged or suspected violations. The Department of Investigation of the State Department of Audit may investigate, for the purpose of prosecution, any suspected criminal violation of the provisions of this chapter. For the purpose of administration and enforcement of this chapter, the enforcement employees of the Department of Investigation of the State Department of Audit have the powers of a law enforcement officer of this state, and shall be empowered to make arrests and to serve and execute search warrants and other valid legal process anywhere within the State of Mississippi. All enforcement employees of the Department of Investigation of the State Department of Audit hired on or after July 1, 1993, shall be required to complete the Law Enforcement Officers Training Program and shall meet the standards of the program;
(i) To issue subpoenas, with the approval of, and returnable to, a judge of a chancery or circuit court, in termtime or in vacation, to examine the records, documents or other evidence of persons, firms, corporations or any other entities insofar as such records, documents or other evidence relate to dealings with any state, county or other public entity. The circuit or chancery judge must serve the county in which the records, documents or other evidence is located; or where all or part of the transaction or transactions occurred which are the subject of the subpoena;
(j) In any instances in which the State Auditor is or shall be authorized or required to examine or audit, whether preaudit or postaudit, any books, ledgers, accounts or other records of the affairs of any public hospital owned or owned and operated by one or more political subdivisions or parts thereof or any combination thereof, or any school district, including activity funds thereof, it shall be sufficient compliance therewith, in the discretion of the State Auditor, that such examination or audit be made from the report of any audit or other examination certified by a certified public accountant and prepared by or under the supervision of such certified public accountant. Such audits shall be made in accordance with generally accepted standards of auditing, with the use of an audit program prepared by the State Auditor, and final reports of such audits shall conform to the format prescribed by the State Auditor. All files, working papers, notes, correspondence and all other data compiled during the course of the audit shall be available, without cost, to the State Auditor for examination and abstracting during the normal business hours of any business day. The expense of such certified reports shall be borne by the respective hospital, or any available school district funds other than minimum program funds, subject to examination or audit. The State Auditor shall not be bound by such certified reports and may, in his or their discretion, conduct such examination or audit from the books, ledgers, accounts or other records involved as may be appropriate and authorized by law;
(k) The State Auditor shall have the authority to contract with qualified public accounting firms to perform selected audits required in paragraphs (d), (e), (f) and (j) of this section, if funds are made available for such contracts by the Legislature, or if funds are available from the governmental entity covered by paragraphs (d), (e), (f) and (j). Such audits shall be made in accordance with generally accepted standards of auditing. All files, working papers, notes, correspondence and all other data compiled during the course of the audit shall be available, without cost, to the State Auditor for examination and abstracting during the normal business hours of any business day;
(l) The State Auditor shall have the authority to establish training courses and programs for the personnel of the various state and local governmental entities under the jurisdiction of the Office of the State Auditor. The training courses and programs shall include, but not be limited to, topics on internal control of funds, property and equipment control and inventory, governmental accounting and financial reporting, and internal auditing. The State Auditor is authorized to charge a fee from the participants of these courses and programs, which fee shall be deposited into the Department of Audit Special Fund. State and local governmental entities are authorized to pay such fee and any travel expenses out of their general funds or any other available funds from which such payment is not prohibited by law;
(m) Upon written request by the Governor or any member of the State Legislature, the State Auditor may audit any state funds and/or state and federal funds received by any nonprofit corporation incorporated under the laws of this state;
(n) To conduct
performance audits of personal or professional service contracts by state
agencies on a random sampling basis, or upon request of the State Personal
Service Contract Review Board under Section 25-9-120(3) * * *;
(o) Upon written request by the Governor, any member of the State Legislature, or at the discretion of the State Auditor, the Auditor may conduct performance, compliance, and monitoring audits of any state-funded economic development projects under Title 57, Mississippi Code of 1972. The Office of the State Auditor shall also have the authority to bill the oversight agency for reasonable, actual, and necessary expenses related to these audits. The Auditor shall have the authority to gather, audit, or review data and information from the Mississippi Development Authority or any of its agents, the Mississippi Department of Revenue, the recipient businesses, or any other private, public, or nonprofit entity with relevant information to the audit project, and to publish those audit reports as they are completed.
[From and after October 1, 2014, this section shall read as follows:]
7-7-211. The department shall have the power and it shall be its duty:
(a) To identify and define for all public offices of the state and its subdivisions generally accepted accounting principles or other accounting principles as promulgated by nationally recognized professional organizations and to consult with the State Fiscal Officer in the prescription and implementation of accounting rules and regulations;
(b) To provide best practices, for all public offices of regional and local subdivisions of the state, systems of accounting, budgeting and reporting financial facts relating to said offices in conformity with legal requirements and with generally accepted accounting principles or other accounting principles as promulgated by nationally recognized professional organizations; to assist such subdivisions in need of assistance in the installation of such systems; to revise such systems when deemed necessary, and to report to the Legislature at periodic times the extent to which each office is maintaining such systems, along with such recommendations to the Legislature for improvement as seem desirable;
(c) To study and analyze existing managerial policies, methods, procedures, duties and services of the various state departments and institutions upon written request of the Governor, the Legislature or any committee or other body empowered by the Legislature to make such request to determine whether and where operations can be eliminated, combined, simplified and improved;
(d) To postaudit each year and, when deemed necessary, preaudit and investigate the financial affairs of the departments, institutions, boards, commissions or other agencies of state government, as part of the publication of a comprehensive annual financial report for the State of Mississippi, or as deemed necessary by the State Auditor. In complying with the requirements of this paragraph, the department shall have the authority to conduct all necessary audit procedures on an interim and year-end basis;
(e) To postaudit and,
when deemed necessary, preaudit and investigate separately the financial
affairs of (i) the offices, boards and commissions of county governments and
any departments and institutions thereof and therein; (ii) public school
districts, departments of education and junior college districts; and (iii) any
other local offices or agencies which share revenues derived from taxes or fees
imposed by the State Legislature or receive grants from revenues collected by
governmental divisions of the state; the cost of such audits, investigations or
other services to be paid as follows: Such part shall be paid by the state
from appropriations made by the Legislature for the operation of the State
Department of Audit as may exceed the * * * actual
cost for the services of each staff person engaged in performing the audit
or other service plus the actual cost of any independent specialist firm
contracted by the State Auditor to assist in the performance of the audit,
which sum shall be paid by the county, district, department, institution or
other agency audited out of its general fund or any other available funds from
which such payment is not prohibited by law. Costs paid for independent
specialists or firms contracted by the State Auditor shall be paid by the
audited entity through the State Auditor to the specialist or firm conducting
the postaudit.
Each school district in the state shall have its financial records audited annually, at the end of each fiscal year, either by the State Auditor or by a certified public accountant approved by the State Auditor. Beginning with the audits of fiscal year 2010 activity, no certified public accountant shall be selected to perform the annual audit of a school district who has audited that district for three (3) or more consecutive years previously. Certified public accountants shall be selected in a manner determined by the State Auditor. The school district shall have the responsibility to pay for the audit, including the review by the State Auditor of audits performed by certified public accountants;
(f) To postaudit and, when deemed necessary, preaudit and investigate the financial affairs of the levee boards; agencies created by the Legislature or by executive order of the Governor; profit or nonprofit business entities administering programs financed by funds flowing through the State Treasury or through any of the agencies of the state, or its subdivisions; and all other public bodies supported by funds derived in part or wholly from public funds, except municipalities which annually submit an audit prepared by a qualified certified public accountant using methods and procedures prescribed by the department;
(g) To make written
demand, when necessary, for the recovery of any amounts representing public
funds improperly withheld, misappropriated and/or otherwise illegally expended
by an officer, employee or administrative body of any state, county or other
public office, and/or for the recovery of the value of any public property
disposed of in an unlawful manner by a public officer, employee or
administrative body, such demands to be made (i) upon the person or persons
liable for such amounts and upon the surety on official bond thereof, and/or
(ii) upon any individual, partnership, corporation or association to whom the
illegal expenditure was made or with whom the unlawful disposition of public
property was made, if such individual, partnership, corporation or association knew
or had reason to know through the exercising of reasonable diligence that the
expenditure was illegal or the disposition unlawful. Such demand shall be
premised on competent evidence, which shall include at least one (1) of the
following: (i) sworn statements, (ii) written documentation, (iii) physical
evidence, or (iv) reports and findings of government or other law enforcement
agencies. Other provisions notwithstanding, a demand letter issued pursuant to
this paragraph shall remain confidential by the State Auditor until the
individual against whom the demand letter is being filed has been served with a
copy of such demand letter. If, however, such individual cannot be notified
within fifteen (15) days using reasonable means and due diligence, such notification
shall be made to the individual's bonding company, if he or she is bonded.
Each such demand shall be paid into the proper treasury of the state, county or
other public body through the office of the department in the amount demanded
within thirty (30) days from the date thereof, together with interest thereon
in the sum of one percent (1%) per month from the date such amount or amounts
were improperly withheld, misappropriated and/or otherwise illegally expended. * * *
If, however,
such person or persons or such surety shall refuse, neglect or otherwise fail
to pay the amount demanded and the interest due thereon within the allotted
thirty (30) days, the State Auditor shall have the authority and it shall be
his duty to institute suit, and the Attorney General shall prosecute the same
in any court of the state to the end that there shall be recovered the total of
such amounts from the person or persons and surety on official bond named
therein; and the amounts so recovered shall be paid into the proper treasury of
the state, county or other public body through the State Auditor. In any case
where written demand is issued to a surety on the official bond of such person
or persons and the surety refuses, neglects or otherwise fails within one
hundred twenty (120) days to either pay the amount demanded and the interest
due thereon or to give the State Auditor a written response with specific
reasons for nonpayment, then the surety shall be subject to a civil penalty in
an amount of twelve percent (12%) of the bond, not to exceed Ten Thousand
Dollars ($10,000.00), to be deposited into the State General Fund;
(h) To investigate any alleged or suspected violation of the laws of the state by any officer or employee of the state, county or other public office in the purchase, sale or the use of any supplies, services, equipment or other property belonging thereto; and in such investigation to do any and all things necessary to procure evidence sufficient either to prove or disprove the existence of such alleged or suspected violations. The Department of Investigation of the State Department of Audit may investigate, for the purpose of prosecution, any suspected criminal violation of the provisions of this chapter. For the purpose of administration and enforcement of this chapter, the enforcement employees of the Department of Investigation of the State Department of Audit have the powers of a law enforcement officer of this state, and shall be empowered to make arrests and to serve and execute search warrants and other valid legal process anywhere within the State of Mississippi. All enforcement employees of the Department of Investigation of the State Department of Audit hired on or after July 1, 1993, shall be required to complete the Law Enforcement Officers Training Program and shall meet the standards of the program;
(i) To issue subpoenas, with the approval of, and returnable to, a judge of a chancery or circuit court, in termtime or in vacation, to examine the records, documents or other evidence of persons, firms, corporations or any other entities insofar as such records, documents or other evidence relate to dealings with any state, county or other public entity. The circuit or chancery judge must serve the county in which the records, documents or other evidence is located; or where all or part of the transaction or transactions occurred which are the subject of the subpoena;
(j) In any instances in which the State Auditor is or shall be authorized or required to examine or audit, whether preaudit or postaudit, any books, ledgers, accounts or other records of the affairs of any public hospital owned or owned and operated by one or more political subdivisions or parts thereof or any combination thereof, or any school district, including activity funds thereof, it shall be sufficient compliance therewith, in the discretion of the State Auditor, that such examination or audit be made from the report of any audit or other examination certified by a certified public accountant and prepared by or under the supervision of such certified public accountant. Such audits shall be made in accordance with generally accepted standards of auditing, with the use of an audit program prepared by the State Auditor, and final reports of such audits shall conform to the format prescribed by the State Auditor. All files, working papers, notes, correspondence and all other data compiled during the course of the audit shall be available, without cost, to the State Auditor for examination and abstracting during the normal business hours of any business day. The expense of such certified reports shall be borne by the respective hospital, or any available school district funds other than minimum program funds, subject to examination or audit. The State Auditor shall not be bound by such certified reports and may, in his or their discretion, conduct such examination or audit from the books, ledgers, accounts or other records involved as may be appropriate and authorized by law;
(k) The State Auditor shall have the authority to contract with qualified public accounting firms to perform selected audits required in paragraphs (d), (e), (f) and (j) of this section, if funds are made available for such contracts by the Legislature, or if funds are available from the governmental entity covered by paragraphs (d), (e), (f) and (j). Such audits shall be made in accordance with generally accepted standards of auditing. All files, working papers, notes, correspondence and all other data compiled during the course of the audit shall be available, without cost, to the State Auditor for examination and abstracting during the normal business hours of any business day;
(l) The State Auditor shall have the authority to establish training courses and programs for the personnel of the various state and local governmental entities under the jurisdiction of the Office of the State Auditor. The training courses and programs shall include, but not be limited to, topics on internal control of funds, property and equipment control and inventory, governmental accounting and financial reporting, and internal auditing. The State Auditor is authorized to charge a fee from the participants of these courses and programs, which fee shall be deposited into the Department of Audit Special Fund. State and local governmental entities are authorized to pay such fee and any travel expenses out of their general funds or any other available funds from which such payment is not prohibited by law;
(m) Upon written request by the Governor or any member of the State Legislature, the State Auditor may audit any state funds and/or state and federal funds received by any nonprofit corporation incorporated under the laws of this state;
(n) To conduct
performance audits of personal or professional service contracts by state
agencies on a random sampling basis, or upon request of the State Personal
Service Contract Review Board under Section 25-9-120(3) * * *;
(o) Upon written request by the Governor, any member of the State Legislature, or at the discretion of the State Auditor, the Auditor may conduct performance, compliance, and monitoring audits of any state-funded economic development projects under Title 57, Mississippi Code of 1972. The Office of the State Auditor shall also have the authority to bill the oversight agency for reasonable, actual, and necessary expenses related to these audits. The Auditor shall have the authority to gather, audit, or review data and information from the Mississippi Development Authority or any of its agents, the Mississippi Department of Revenue, the recipient businesses, or any other private, public, or nonprofit entity with relevant information to the audit project, and to publish those audit reports as they are completed.
SECTION 3. Section 7-7-213, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
7-7-213. (1) The costs of
audits and other services required by Sections 7-7-201 through 7-7-215, except
for those audits and services authorized by Section 7-7-211(k) which shall be
funded by appropriations made by the Legislature from such funds as it deems
appropriate, shall be paid from a special fund * * * that is created in the State
Treasury, to be known as the State Department of Audit Fund, into which will be
paid each year the amounts received for performing audits required by law.
Except * * * for any municipality required under
this chapter to be audited by the State Auditor, the amounts to be charged for
performing audits and other services shall be the actual cost, * * *
plus the actual cost of any independent specialist firm
contracted by the State Auditor to assist in the performance of the audit.
Costs paid for independent specialists or firms contracted by the State Auditor
shall be paid by the audited entity through the State Auditor to the specialist
or firm conducting the audit, and shall include
a three percent (3%) administrative cost recovery charge for the review and
publishing of these audits and other specialist services. In the
event of failure by any unit of government to pay the charges authorized
herein, the Department of Audit shall notify the State Fiscal Officer, and upon
a determination that the charges are substantially correct, the State Fiscal
Officer shall notify the defaulting unit of his determination. If payment is
not made within thirty (30) days after such notification, the State Fiscal
Officer shall notify the State Treasurer and Department of Public Accounts that
no further warrants are to be issued to the defaulting unit until the
deficiency is paid.
(2) The cost of any service by the department not required of it under the provisions of the cited sections but made necessary by the willful fault or negligence of an officer or employee of any public office of the state shall be recovered (i) from such officer or employee and/or surety on official bond thereof and/or (ii) from the individual, partnership, corporation or association involved, in the same manner and under the same terms, when necessary, as provided the department for recovering public funds in Section 7-7-211.
(3) The State Auditor shall deliver a copy of any audit of the fiscal and financial affairs of a county to the chancery clerk of such county and shall deliver a notice stating that a copy of such audit is on file in the chancery clerk's office to some newspaper published in the county to be published. If no newspaper is published in the county, a copy of such notice shall be delivered to a newspaper having a general circulation therein.
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2014, except for Section 3, which shall take effect and be in force from and after October 1, 2014.
