CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. 30

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: H.B. No. 282

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

C.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the House of Representatives to the amendments proposed by the Senate in H.B. No. 282, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE AUDITOR,"

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.

The purpose of this bill is to enable the Office of the Auditor to conduct financial audits of all State and county departments, offices, and agencies (executive agencies). This bill:

(1) Authorizes the Auditor to charge executive agencies a reasonable fee for the cost of performing financial audits;

(2) Establishes the Audit Revolving Fund (Revolving Fund) into which fees collected for conducting audits and other moneys will be deposited. The Auditor will use the moneys in the Revolving Fund to conduct audits of executive agencies and various types of funds;

(3) Appropriates moneys from the General Fund to be deposited into the Revolving Fund to advance the costs of audits; and appropriates moneys from the Revolving Fund;

(4) Appropriates moneys into the Revolving Fund for the costs of audits that are currently budgeted to state agencies; and

(5) Specifies that moneys expended by the Auditor for these purposes shall be deemed to have been expended by the executive agencies subject to the Single Audit Act of 1984.

Your Committee on Conference recognizes that allowing a legislative agency to charge executive agencies a fee for the cost of an audit may raise concerns regarding the separation of power. Therefore, upon further consideration, your Committee on Conference has amended this bill by:

(1) Deleting the authorization for the Auditor to charge a reasonable fee for the cost of performing an audit;

(2) Requiring that when the costs of financial audits conducted by or contracted for by the Auditor are reimbursable by moneys appropriated to or generated by any executive agency, these cost reimbursements shall be transmitted to the Auditor for deposit into the Revolving Fund;

(3) Restating the type of moneys to be deposited into the Revolving Fund to reflect the amendments described above;

(4) Deleting the requirement that fees collected for conducting an audit of any special, revolving, capital improvement, or trust fund shall be deposited into the Revolving Fund; and instead requiring that moneys received for audit costs payable by these same funds shall be deposited into the Revolving Fund;

(5) Deleting the purpose section as well as all appropriation sections of the bill;

(6) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2003; and

(7) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purpose of consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 282, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 282, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, C.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:

ON THE PART OF THE SENATE

ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair

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MICHAEL Y. MAGAOAY, Co-Chair

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BOB NAKASONE, Co-Chair