Senate Bill No. 456
(By Senators Bowman and McKenzie)
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[Introduced February 5, 2004; referred to the Committee on
Government Organization; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §12-4-14 of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to requiring state agencies
administering funds or grants to notify a grantee of certain
audit reporting requirements; and barring grantees not
complying with reporting requirements from subsequently
receiving funds or grants.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §12-4-14 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. ACCOUNTS, REPORTS AND GENERAL PROVISIONS.
§12-4-14. Audits of corporations, associations or other
organizations which receive state funds or grants.
(a) Any corporation, association or other organization in West
Virginia, whether nonprofit or for profit, which receives state
funds or grants in the amount of fifteen thousand dollars or more shall file an audit of the disbursement of funds with the
legislative auditor's office. The audit shall be filed within two
years of the disbursement of funds or grants by the grantee grantor
and shall be made by an independent certified public accountant at
the cost of the corporation, association or other organization and
shall show that the funds or grants were spent for the purposes
intended when the grant was made. The state agency administering
the funds or grants shall notify the grantee of the reporting
requirements set forth in this section.
A grantee failing to file
a required audit within the two-year-time period is barred from
subsequently receiving state funds or grants until the grantee has
filed the audit and is otherwise in compliance with the provisions
of this section.
(b) Audits of state funds or grants under fifteen thousand
dollars may be authorized by the joint committee on government and
finance to be conducted by the legislative auditor's office, at no
cost to the grantee: Provided, That volunteer fire departments
satisfy the audit requirements of this section by submitting a
sworn statement of annual expenditures to the legislative auditor's
office, along with a filing fee of seventy-five dollars, on or
before the fourteenth day of February of each year, if the
volunteer fire department elects not to be audited. The sworn
statement of expenditures shall be signed by the chief or director
of the volunteer fire department, and shall be made under oath and acknowledged before a notary public. An additional filing fee of
twenty-five dollars shall be included
with the sworn statement of
annual expenditures if the statement is submitted between the
fifteenth day of February and
the fifteenth day of March. An
additional filing fee of fifty dollars shall be included with the
sworn statement of annual expenditures if the statement is
submitted between the sixteenth day of March and
the fifteenth day
of April. If the sworn statement is not submitted on or before the
fifteenth day of April, the volunteer fire department shall file an
audit of the disbursement of funds, made by an independent
certified public accountant, with the legislative auditor's office
no later than the first day of July. The audit shall be made at
the cost of the volunteer fire department. If the audit made by
the independent certified public accountant is not filed with the
legislative auditor by the first day of July, the legislative
auditor shall notify the state treasurer who shall withhold payment
of one thousand dollars from any amount that would otherwise be
distributed to the fire department under the provisions of sections
fourteen-d and thirty-three, article three, and section sixteen-a,
article twelve, all of chapter thirty-three of this code,
and pay
the amount withheld to the fund from which it was distributed to be
redistributed the following year pursuant to the applicable
provisions of those sections
. If the volunteer fire department
does not timely file a sworn statement of annual expenditures or an audit of the disbursement of funds, made by an independent
certified public accountant, with the legislative auditor's office
for three consecutive years, the legislative auditor shall notify
the state treasurer who shall withhold payment of any amount that
would otherwise be distributed to the fire department under the
provisions of sections fourteen-d and thirty-three, article three,
and section sixteen-a, article twelve, all of chapter thirty-three
of this code,
and pay the amount withheld to the fund from which it
was distributed to be redistributed the following year pursuant to
the applicable provisions of those sections
.
(c) The office of the legislative auditor may assign an
employee or employees to perform audits at the direction of the
legislative auditor of the disbursement of funds or grants to
volunteer fire departments. The volunteer fire department shall
cooperate with the legislative auditor, the legislative auditor's
employees and the state auditor in performing their duties under
this section. If the legislative auditor determines a volunteer
fire department is not cooperating, the legislative auditor shall
notify the state treasurer who shall withhold payment of any amount
that would otherwise be distributed to the fire department under
the provisions of sections fourteen-d and thirty-three, article
three, and section sixteen-a, article twelve, all of chapter
thirty-three of this code, until the legislative auditor informs
the treasurer that the fire department has cooperated as required by this section.
The state treasurer shall pay the amount withheld
into a special revenue account hereby created in the state treasury
and designated the "Volunteer Fire Department Audit Account." If
after one year from payment of the amount withheld into the special
revenue account, the legislative auditor informs the state
treasurer of continued noncooperation by the fire department, the
state treasurer shall pay the amount withheld to the fund from
which it was distributed to be redistributed the following year
pursuant to the applicable provisions of those sections.
(d) Filing fees paid by volunteer fire departments pursuant to
this section shall be paid into a special revenue account created
in the state treasury known as the "Special Legislative Audit
Fund." Expenditures from the fund are authorized to be made by the
legislative auditor's office solely for the purposes of payment of
costs associated with the audits conducted pursuant to this
section. Any person who files a fraudulent sworn statement of
expenditures under this section is guilty of a felony and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than one thousand
dollars nor more than five thousand dollars, or imprisoned in a
state correctional facility for not less than one year nor more
than five years, or both fined and imprisoned.
(e) Whenever the state auditor performs an audit of a
volunteer fire department for any purpose the auditor shall also
conduct an audit of other state funds received by the fire department pursuant to sections fourteen-d and thirty-three,
article three, and section sixteen-a, article twelve, all of
chapter thirty-three of this code. The auditor shall send a copy
of any such audit to the legislative auditor. The legislative
auditor may accept an audit performed by the auditor in lieu of
performing an audit under this section.
(f) Any audit submitted pursuant to the provisions of this
section may be filed electronically in accordance with the
provisions of article one, chapter thirty-nine-a of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require state agencies
administering funds or grants to notify a grantee of certain audit
reporting requirements. A grantee not complying with the reporting
requirements is barred from subsequently receiving funds or grants.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.