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S1044..........................................................by SCHROEDER
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL - Amends existing law relating to the Legislative
Council; to provide for the hiring and compensation of legislative interns.
01/19 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to printing
01/22 Rpt prt - to St Aff
]]]] LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO ]]]]
Fifty-ninth Legislature First Regular Session - 2007
IN THE SENATE
SENATE BILL NO. 1044
BY SCHROEDER
1 AN ACT
2 RELATING TO THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL; AMENDING SECTION 67-429, IDAHO CODE, TO
3 PROVIDE FOR THE HIRING AND COMPENSATION OF LEGISLATIVE INTERNS AND TO
4 DELETE OBSOLETE LANGUAGE.
5 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
6 SECTION 1. That Section 67-429, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby
7 amended to read as follows:
8 67-429. POWERS AND DUTIES. (1) It shall be the duty of the council to
9 collect and compile information, to draft bills and to conduct research upon
10 any subject which the legislature may authorize or direct or upon any subject
11 which it may determine, provided that all activities of the council must be
12 reasonably related to a legislative purpose. The legislature may make specific
13 assignments to the council by a concurrent resolution approved by both houses.
14 (2) The council may hold public hearings and it may authorize or direct
15 any of its committees to hold public hearings on any matters within the juris-
16 diction of the council.
17 (3) The council shall establish and maintain a legislative reference
18 library.
19 (4) For the purpose of conducting any study within the jurisdiction of
20 the council, by resolution adopted by the affirmative vote of two-thirds (2/3)
21 of the entire membership of the council, the chairman of the council may sub-
22 poena witnesses, compel their attendance, take evidence and require the pro-
23 duction of any books, papers, correspondence or other documents or records
24 which the council deems relevant or material to any matter on which the coun-
25 cil or any committee is conducting a study.
26 (5) It shall be the duty of the council to superintend and administer the
27 legislative space in the capitol building at all times, and to prepare such
28 space when required for the sessions of the legislature, which shall include
29 the provision of furniture and equipment.
30 (6) The legislative council shall review and make recommendations to the
31 administrator of the division of human resources on all aspects of the state
32 personnel system, including policies, wages and salaries.
33 (7) The council has authority to appoint committees and hire staff or
34 contract for services to implement the provisions of this section. In addition
35 to the duties provided above, the council has authority to:
36 (a) Provide the legislature with research and analysis of current and
37 projected state revenue, state expenditure and state tax expenditures;
38 (b) Provide the legislature with a report analyzing the governor's pro-
39 posed levels of revenue and expenditures for budgets and supplemental bud-
40 get requests submitted to the legislature;
41 (c) Provide an analysis of the impact of the governor's proposed revenue
42 and expenditure plans for the next fiscal year;
43 (d) Conduct research on matters of economic and fiscal policy and report
2
1 to the legislature on the result of the research;
2 (e) Provide economic reports and studies on the state of the state's
3 economy including trends and forecasts for consideration by the legisla-
4 ture;
5 (f) Conduct budget and tax studies and provide general fiscal and budget-
6 ary information;
7 (g) Review and make recommendations on the operation of state programs in
8 order to appraise the implementation of state laws regarding the expendi-
9 ture of funds and to recommend means of improving their efficiency;
10 (h) Recommend to the legislature changes in the mix of revenue sources
11 for programs, in the percentage of state expenditures devoted to major
12 programs, and in the role of the legislature in overseeing state govern-
13 ment expenditures and revenue projections;
14 (i) Make a continuing study and investigation of the building needs of
15 the government of the state of Idaho, including, but not limited to, the
16 following: the current and future requirements of new buildings, the
17 maintenance of existing buildings, rehabilitating and remodeling of old
18 buildings, the planning of administrative offices, and exploring the meth-
19 ods of financing building and related costs; and
20 (j) Conduct a study of state-local finance, analyzing and making recom-
21 mendations to the legislature on issues including levels of state support
22 for political subdivisions, basic levels of local need, balances of local
23 revenues and options, relationship of local taxes to individuals' ability
24 to pay and financial reporting by political subdivisions; and
25 (k) Hire and assign responsibilities to not more than ten (10) legisla-
26 tive interns for each legislative session and compensate each such legis-
27 lative intern at a rate not greater than one thousand five hundred dollars
28 ($1,500) per legislative session.
29 (8) In performing its duties under subsection (7) of this section, the
30 council and its employees may consider, among other things:
31 (a) The relative dependence on state tax revenues, federal funds and user
32 fees to support state-funded programs, and whether the existing mix of
33 revenue sources is appropriate given the purpose of the programs;
34 (b) The relative percentages of state expenditures that are devoted to
35 major programs such as education, assistance to local government, aid to
36 individuals, state agencies and institutions and debt service; and
37 (c) The role of the legislature in overseeing state government expendi-
38 tures, including legislative appropriation of money from the general
39 account, legislative appropriation of money from funds other than the gen-
40 eral account, state agency receipt of money into revolving and other dedi-
41 cated funds and expenditure of money from these funds and state agency
42 expenditure of federal funds.
43 (9) The council's recommendations shall consider the long-term needs of
44 the state. The recommendations must not duplicate work done by standing com-
45 mittees of the senate and house of representatives.
46 (10) The council may, after consultation with the governor and with the
47 chairs of the standing committees of the legislature, select mandates and
48 state programs for review. When selecting mandates, state aids or state pro-
49 grams to be reviewed, the council may consider those that involve payments to
50 local units of government. Staff from affected agencies, staff from the divi-
51 sion of financial management and legislative staff shall participate in the
52 reviews.
53 (11) The following state aids and associated state mandates may be
54 reviewed:
55 (a) Local government aid, ad valorem property tax credits, tax increment
3
1 financing and fiscal disparities;
2 (b) Human service aids;
3 (c) Educational support dollars utilized for school district general
4 fund aids, school district capital expenditure fund aids, and school dis-
5 trict debt service fund aids;
6 (d) General government aids including natural resource aids, environmen-
7 tal protection aids, transportation aids, economic development aids and
8 general infrastructure aids.
9 (12) At the direction of the council, the reviews of state aids and state
10 mandates involving state financing of local government activities listed in
11 subsection (11) of this section may include:
12 (a) The employment status, wages and benefits of persons employed in
13 administering the programs;
14 (b) The desirable applicability of state procedural laws or rules;
15 (c) Methods for increasing political subdivision options in providing
16 their share, if any, of program costs;
17 (d) Desirable redistributions of funding responsibilities for the program
18 and the time period during which any recommended funding distribution
19 should occur;
20 (e) Opportunities for reducing program mandates and giving political sub-
21 divisions more flexibility in meeting program needs;
22 (f) Comparability of treatment of similar units of government;
23 (g) The effect of the state aid or mandate on the distribution of tax
24 burdens among individuals based upon ability to pay;
25 (h) Coordination of the payment or allocation formula with other state
26 aid programs;
27 (i) Incentives that have been created for local spending decisions, and
28 whether the incentives should be changed;
29 (j) Ways in which political subdivisions have changed their revenue-
30 raising behavior since receiving these grants;
31 (k) An assessment of the accountability of all government agencies that
32 participate in the administration of the program.
33 (13) The legislative council may provide for a complete audit of any and
34 every fund in the state treasury and other state moneys at least once in every
35 two (2) fiscal years, and commencing for fiscal year 1995 and each year there-
36 after shall provide for an annual statewide financial audit of the statewide
37 annual financial report prepared by the state controller, and is hereby autho-
38 rized:
39 (a) To supervise and examine the accounts and expenditures of the several
40 departments and public institutions of the state and to prescribe rules
41 necessary to assure the adequacy and timeliness of all audits performed
42 for or on behalf of all political subdivisions thereof;
43 (b) To inspect securities held by the several departments and public
44 institutions of the state and the political subdivisions thereof;
45 (c) To examine, at any and all times, the accounts of every private cor-
46 poration, institution, association, or board receiving appropriations from
47 the legislature or contracting for health and welfare services with the
48 state of Idaho;
49 (d) To demand and receive reports from the state treasurer, state con-
50 troller, director of the department of finance, and any other officer or
51 agency, and from the several state depositories;
52 (e) To publish, from time to time, for the information of the several
53 departments and of the general public, bulletins of the works of govern-
54 ment;
55 (f) To be the official depository of all audits of the several depart-
4
1 ments and public institutions of the state and its political subdivisions;
2 the filing of an audit with the official depository shall satisfy all
3 requirements for the filing of an audit with the state, any other provi-
4 sion of law notwithstanding;
5 (g) To review or have reviewed the work papers or other documentation
6 utilized in the audit of a state department or public institution of the
7 state and its political subdivisions, and to reject for filing in the
8 official depository any report based upon unsatisfactory work papers or
9 inadequately supported documentation;
10 (h) To review and approve the terms and conditions or other statement of
11 services to be provided on any or all contracts or agreements by state
12 government agencies for audits or audit type services; and
13 (i) To report to the attorney general, for such action, civil or crimi-
14 nal, as the attorney general may deem necessary, all facts showing illegal
15 expenditure of the public money or misappropriation of the public money or
16 misappropriation of the public property. The governor and state control-
17 ler shall also be notified when the report is made to the attorney general
18 pursuant to this subsection.
19 All reports, findings and audits of the legislative council pursuant to
20 this subsection shall be submitted to the legislature and to the governor.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 16752
The purpose of this legislation is to provide not more than 10 scholarships
for legislative interns of up to $1500/legislative session. The program shall
be administered through the Legislative Council.
It is difficult for college students to be legislative interns because of
living costs while in Boise. The legislation will help provide opportunities
for individuals to have the experience of working with the legislature.
FISCAL IMPACT
A maximum of $15,000 annually plus some small administrative costs.
Contact:
Senator Gary J. Schroeder
332-1324
S 1044