ARTICLE 10A. OFFICE OF ACTUARIAL SERVICES.

§4‑10A‑1. Definitions.

As used in this Article:

(a) "Actuary" means a person who is a member in good standing of the American Academy of Actuaries.

(b) "Actuarial services" means those professional services of an actuarial nature as well as incidental services that members of those professions and those in their employ may logically or justifiably perform.

(c) The term "Office of actuarial services" or "office" means the actuarial services provided by the Legislative Auditor.

(d) The term "firm" or "professional firm" means any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, association or other legal entity permitted by law to practice the profession of actuarial services.

§4‑10A‑2. Creation of Office of Actuarial Services; transfer of responsibility for actuarial services to Legislative Auditor.

(a) There is hereby created, within the office of the Legislative Auditor, the Office of Actuarial Services, with the power and authority to provide actuarial services on behalf of the Legislative Auditor. The Office of Actuarial Services is answerable only to the Legislative Auditor, the Joint Committee on Government and Finance and the Legislature.

(b) The Legislative Auditor, to the extent the Legislature and the Joint Committee on Government and Finance make funds available may employ, or in accordance with the provisions of applicable law, contract for personal, professional or actuarial consulting services or retain the services of a qualified competent actuary to perform those services which require application of the actuarial science by a qualified, independent actuary or actuarial firm as may be necessary for the efficient discharge of the responsibility created and conferred by this article. The actuarial services provided by the office shall be in accordance with Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS) as promulgated by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, and specifically in accordance with the independence requirements of those standards.”

(1) Evaluate legislative proposals for fiscal effect and provide fiscal notes, independent of any other state agency;

(2) Report to the Legislature annually with respect to its activities and at other times as the Joint Committee on Government and Finance considers appropriate;

(3) Prepare a fiscal note on all bills which, if requested by any legislator, is expected to have a reasonable impact on the revenues or expenditures of the state budget. The fiscal note shall be comprehensive and may include a reliable estimate of the direct and indirect fiscal, policy, jobs, economic, environmental, local, and municipal impacts of the bill, including both its costs and savings. All assumptions used to measure the direct and indirect effects shall be disclosed. The fiscal notes shall be updated if the bill is amended or a committee drafts a substitute bill and changes the underlying assumptions, revenues or expenditures. In preparing a fiscal note the office may not make any normative decisions about whether the legislation should or should not be enacted and testimony shall be confined to fiscal and policy impacts, both direct and indirect;

(4) Analyze fiscal notes prepared by any other state agency or body to determine the accuracy and appropriateness of their findings. Fiscal notes prepared by the office may describe the differences between an agency fiscal note and those prepared by the office.”

Adopted

Rejected