Senate Bill No. 67
(By Senator Tomblin, Mr. President)
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[Introduced January 14, 2004; referred to the Committee on .]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §4-2-5 of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to requiring the head of an agency,
department or board to submit a statement of compliance to the
legislative auditor within six months of a fiscal or
performance audit by the office of the legislative auditor to
certify that the agency, department or board is making a
reasonable, good faith effort to implement the recommendations
set forth in the legislative audit; and failure to comply
constitutes malfeasance of office.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §4-2-5 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be
amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. LEGISLATIVE AUDITOR; POWERS; FUNCTIONS; DUTIES;
COMPENSATION.
§4-2-5. Powers of auditor; statement of compliance required.
(a) The legislative auditor shall have the power and authority to examine the revenues, expenditures and performance of every
spending unit of the state government and for these purposes shall
have the authority, by such means as are necessary, to require any
person holding office in the state government or employed by the
state, to allow him or her
to inspect the properties, equipment,
facilities and records of the various agencies, departments,
subdivisions or institutions of the state government for which
appropriations are to be made or have been made, either before or
after estimates therefor are submitted, and before, during and
after the sessions of the Legislature. Refusal of any person to
allow such inspection shall be reported by the legislative auditor
to the committee.
(b) The head of an agency, department or board subject to a
fiscal or performance audit by the office of the legislative
auditor shall, within six months of the transmittal date of the
final draft audit report, submit a statement of compliance to the
legislative auditor, certifying that the agency, department or
board is addressing the issues identified in the audit by making a
reasonable, good faith effort to implement the recommendations set
forth in the audit. If the agency, department or board has not
implemented the recommendations set forth in the audit, the
statement must include a specific explanation as to why each
recommendation has not been implemented. The statement must also
include a timetable for implementation of those recommendations which may take longer than six months to fully implement. If the
head of an agency, department or board fails to submit the
statement of compliance to the legislative auditor in a timely
fashion, or fails to make a reasonable, good faith effort to
implement the recommendations set forth in the audit, his or her
actions constitute malfeasance of office.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the head of an
agency, department or board to submit a statement of compliance to
the Legislative Auditor within six months of a fiscal or
performance audit by the Office of the Legislative Auditor to
certify that the agency, department or board is making a
reasonable, good faith effort to implement the recommendations set
forth in the legislative audit.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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