WEST virginia legislature

2020 regular session

Introduced

House Bill 4552

By Delegate Barnhart
By Request from State Auditor

[Introduced January 27, 2020; Referred to the Committee on Finance]

A BILL to amend and reenact §12-3-10c of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to state accounting system transaction fees; removing the centralized accounting system transaction fee; establishing a penalty fee for spending units failing to utilize a state purchasing card when the state purchasing card is accepted by a vendor; authorizing the Auditor to waive penalty fees in emergency or other circumstances; creating the Transparency and Oversight Support Fund; and prescribing the manner of billing and collection of penalty fees.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

Article 3. Appropriatons, Expenditures and Deductions.

§12-3-10c. Transaction fees; disposition of fees.

(a) In order to promote and enhance the use of the state purchasing card program established by the provisions of section ten-a of this article and in order to maintain and develop the fiscal operations and accounting systems of the state, the Auditor and the treasurer may assess joint transaction fees for all financial documents that will be processed on the central accounting system. Such transaction fees shall be prescribed by legislative rule proposed in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code and may include the following:

(1) A penalty fee to be assessed against spending units of state government who submit claims for payment of goods and services when those claims are authorized to be paid by use of a state purchasing card and the spending unit has failed to utilize the state purchasing card; and

(2) A transaction fee to be assessed against spending units of state government for every transaction received, electronically or otherwise, by the Auditor from the centralized accounting system.

(b) All fees collected under this section shall be deposited into the "Technology Support and Acquisition Fund" which is hereby created in the State Treasury to be administered by the Auditor. The Auditor and treasurer shall use moneys deposited in the fund to maintain and develop the state purchasing card program, support the fiscal operations of the state, including the state centralized accounting system, and to acquire and improve the technology required to support these functions: Provided, That expenditures from the fund are authorized from collections and are to be made only in accordance with an appropriation by the Legislature and in accordance with the provision of article three of this chapter and upon fulfillment of the provisions set forth in article two, chapter five-a of this code: Provided, however, That for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1998, expenditures from the fund may be made from collections: Provided further, That the Legislature is exempt from any fees imposed under this section

(a) In order to promote and oversee the use of the state purchasing card program established by the provisions of §12-3-10a of this code and in order to maintain and develop the fiscal operations and accounting systems of state and local governments, the Auditor may assess a penalty fee of three percent of the transaction amount, per transaction, against spending units of state government who submit claims for payment of goods and services when the merchant or vendor providing the goods or services accepts the state purchasing card as a payment method and the spending unit has failed to utilize the state purchasing card for that transaction: Provided, That the Auditor may make provisions for certain purchases such as emergency purchases, purchases where the card could not be utilized, or other circumstances as determined by the Auditor, to be made without penalty when the card was not used: Provided, however, That the amount of the penalty fee to be charged under this section shall not exceed $100 per transaction.

(b) All fees collected under this section shall be deposited into the Transparency and Oversight Support Fund which is hereby created in the State Treasury to be administered by the Auditor. The Auditor shall use moneys deposited in the fund to maintain and develop the state purchasing card auditing, fraud detection, and oversight services and support state and local government financial data accounting and transparency systems, and to acquire and improve the technology required to support these functions: Provided, That expenditures from the fund are authorized from collections and are to be made only in accordance with an appropriation by the Legislature and in accordance with the provisions of §12-3-1 et seq. of this code: Provided, however, That the Legislature is exempt from any fees imposed under this section.

(c) All billing and collections for fees collected under this section shall be accounted for in the statewide centralized enterprise resource planning system. The Auditor shall bill each agency on a quarterly basis.

(d) Nothing in this section should be construed to authorize a state spending unit to pay purchasing card penalty fees from any grants or funding sources that prohibit use of the funds to pay transaction or penalty fees.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove the transaction fee charged to state spending units in the former statewide centralized accounting system, WVFIMS, and to increase the existing purchasing card penalty fee. The bill creates the Transparency and Oversight Fund to receive deposits for the purchasing card penalty fee and prescribes the billing and collection procedures for the fee.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.