[OSSSA218] Washington Update and NASACT News Highlights!!

[Karen PARK]

FYI

Karen Park

Oregon State Social Security Coordinator
Oregon PERS
503 603-7633
karen.park at state.or.us

SL2

Please note my office hours are Monday thru Thursday 6 am to 4:30 pm


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>>> "DeVore, Vandee" <Vandee.DeVore at oa.mo.gov> 4/11/2011 7:29 AM >>>

 
 
From: Grayson, Tanya [mailto:tgrayson at nasact.org] 
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011 9:08 AM
To: DeVore, Vandee
Subject: Washington Update and NASACT News Highlights!!
 
Good morning,
 
To view the latest Washington Update for April 11, 2011, please visit the NASACT web site at https://www.nasact.org/washington/washingtonupdate.cfm.
 
Here is what you will read in this week’s update:
 
·         Government Shutdown Drama Goes Down to the Wire
·         State and Municipal Debt Hearing Scheduled for Thursday
·         Improper Payments Hearing Scheduled for Friday
·         Congress Clears 1099 Repeal
 
Should you have any questions regarding this week’s update, please feel free to contact Cornelia Chebinou or Neal Hutchko in the NASACT Washington office at 202-624-5451 or by email at cchebinou at nasact.org and nhutchko at nasact.org.
 
Thanks and have a great week.
 
Tanya Grayson
NASACT DC Office
 
NASACT News Highlights: What's Going on!
 
If you would like to have an article/issue highlighted for the membership, please send it to NASACT Policy Analyst Neal Hutchko at nhutchko at nasact.org. We would appreciate if you could please include the web link to your article for formatting purposes and for proper source citation.  
 
CALIFORNIA
 
Audit finds years-long backlog of investigations into accused teachers
Los Angeles Times
 
Teachers who have been accused of showing pornography to children, kissing a student, or sexual harassment were not investigated in a timely manner by the state agency in charge of revoking education credentials, according to a state audit released Thursday…
 
DELAWARE
 
Delaware Manufactured Home Relocation Authority audit released
Press release
 
State Auditor R. Thomas Wagner, Jr. has released an audit of the Delaware Manufactured Home Relocation Authority (Authority). The financial audit of the Authority’s nearly $4 million in assets and just over $800 thousand in revenues resulted in one finding that identified weaknesses in internal controls over revenue activities…
 
IDAHO
 
Audit underscores Idaho's Medicaid-oversight woes
Idaho Statesman
 
The state Health and Welfare Department is having problems with its Medicaid system and may have to repay some federal money under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program because it wasn’t spent properly, the Legislative Services Office says. The state drags a fine-toothed comb through the department’s finances for the year that ended June 30 in part to meet federal requirements, since about 70 percent of the department’s $2 billion budget is federally funded, Health and Welfare spokesman Tom Shanahan said.  “Idaho does a good job administering its federal funds in compliance with applicable laws and regulations,” Don H. Berg, manager of the legislative audits division, told state officials in a letter with the audit…
 
ILLINOIS
 
Illinois treasurer cuts office’s cellphones, vehicles
Quad City Times
 
Despite “negligible” savings, state Treasurer Dan Rutherford said he is trying to conserve money where possible in his office’s expenses. Rutherford is cutting half the vehicles owned by the Treasurer’s Office and almost three-quarters of the cellphones used by staff, he said Thursday. The office went from 12 to six vehicles and from 36 to 10 state-issued cellphones…
 
MASSACHUSETTS
 
Auditor: tax code lacks accountability
WWLP – Boston
 
Massachusetts is giving billions of dollars in tax breaks to corporations to encourage job growth, but the state auditor says those dollars aren’t being accounted for. State Auditor Suzanne Bump says after reviewing 91 of 203 state tax expenditure programs, collectively valued at $2.2 billion dollars, it’s “clear that our tax code lacks basic accountability and transparency.”…
 
State Auditor Talks Money, Politics and Honesty
IBerkshires
 
Most fourth-graders don't know who their state senator is, but thanks to a visit from Suzanne Bump, pupils at Undermountain Elementary School know who their auditor is and what she does at the State House. At the request of teacher Danielle Forrest and her fourth-grade class, Bump, who was sworn in to office just three months ago, visited the school on Monday morning hoping to answer students' questions about government, money and, of course, politics…
 
Pension fund plans more activist shareholder role, posts March gain
Boston Herald
 
Members of the board that oversees the state pension fund voted Tuesday to take a more activist stance in the companies that the fund invests in against “inflated” executive compensation, in support of more women and minorities on company boards, against predatory lending practices and in support of practices that address environmental sustainability and climate change. Board chairman and state Treasurer Steven Grossman told reporters that the emphasis on these policy goals were all intended to “maximize shareholder value” and support the values of Massachusetts residents and pensioners...
 
MISSISSIPPI
 
State Auditor Reports Record Keeping Problem
WTOK - Quitman
 
State Auditor Stacey Pickering met with members of the Clarke County Board of Supervisors to inform them of an emergency cash count that began Monday in the circuit clerk’s office “This is the third county in the last 30 days that my office has gone into and found problems with the financial record keeping that is mandated by state law," said Pickering…
 
MISSOURI
 
State Auditor Releases Petition Audit of University City
Press Release
 
State Auditor Tom Schweich today released the completed petition audit of University City. The audit was conducted pursuant to a petition signed by 2,881 qualified voters of the city. In accordance with state law, the city will be responsible for the cost of the audit estimated to be $80,000… 
 
NEW JERSEY
 
Audit of Bridge Maintenance Contract Expenditures
Press Release
 
This audit includes a review of bridge painting maintenance expenditures funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)….
 
N.J. Treasurer introduces Office of the Taxpayer Advocate in state Division of Taxation
New Jersey Newsroom
 
State Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff announced Tuesday that he has created the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate within the Treasury Department’s Division of Taxation.
Sidamon-Eristoff said the role of the taxpayer advocate will be to simplify New Jersey‘s tax regulations for the public and provide help in navigating the tax code...
 
OHIO
 
Kasich orders audits to correct 'mismanaged' state agencies
The Daily Record
 
Gov. John Kasich has signed into law legislation requiring special audits of certain state agencies to identify potential cost-cutting measures. Senate Bill 4 will require the state auditor to conduct the so-called performance audits on at least four state agencies every two years, with those agencies required to implement the resulting recommendations or explain why they chose not to do so…
 
OREGON
 
Oregon Financial Report Offers Grim Outlook
KTVZ - Salem
 
Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown's financial condition report, released Wednesday, shows how the state met the recession-driven needs of Oregonians over the past several years with additional federal funds, borrowing, and spending of reserves. However, she warned, these options are less available for the future. “These negative trends can be the guides to help Oregon get and keep its financial house in order,” said Audits Director Gary Blackmer. “Our objective was to show many of the major drivers of Oregon’s finances over the past nine years, which helps explain the situation we find ourselves in this year.”…
 
SOUTH CAROLINA
 
S.C. Comptroller General staff stretched on payroll processing 
Bluffton Today
 
Last week the S.C. Senate Constitutional & Criminal Justice Subcommittee granted state Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom’s request that $127,000 that was cut by House lawmakers be put back in his office’s budget. He said the general fund appropriation for his office, which has 33 full-time equivalents, went from $5.3 million to about $2 million in recent years. “We cut our staff to the point where we have absolutely no backup,” said Eckstrom. “We’re running the entire state payroll with two people.”... 
 
WISCONSIN
 
Audit finds Wis. prisoners got federal benefits
Chicago Tribune
 
Wisconsin prison inmates wrongly received at least $250,000 in federal unemployment and food stamp benefits that should be repaid, an audit released Friday found. The Legislative Audit Bureau report found more than $12 million in benefit payments and other questionable charges were made in the 2009 fiscal year. The biggest chunk is nearly $10 million in unemployment benefit overpayments including some that went to prison inmates…
 
OTHER NEWS
 
U.S. wants states to reveal more about pension funding
Reuters
 
A federal board will soon propose that U.S. states disclose more about their pension funding as worries grow whether states and municipalities can pay for their employees' pensions…
 
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