Ch
646
2006 -- S 2094 SUBSTITUTE A
Enacted 06/23/06
A N A
C T
RELATING TO PUBLIC
PROPERTY AND WORKS --
GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT
AND FISCAL ACCOUNTABILITY REVIEW ACT
Introduced By: Senators
Lanzi, Ciccone, Badeau, Pichardo, and Damiani
Date Introduced: January
17, 2006
It is
enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
SECTION
1. Title 37 of the General Laws entitled "Public Property and Works"
is
hereby
amended by adding thereto the following chapter:
CHAPTER 2.3
GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT AND FISCAL ACCOUNTABILITY REVIEW
ACT
37-2.3-1.
Short title. – This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the
"Government
Oversight and Fiscal Accountability Review Act."
37-2.3-2.
Legislative intent. – The legislature finds and declares that using
private
contractors
to provide public services normally provided by public employees does not
always
promote
the public interest. To ensure that citizens of this state receive high quality
public
services
at low costs, with due regard for the taxpayers of this state, and the service
recipients,
the
legislature finds it necessary to ensure that access to public information
guaranteed by the
access
to public records act is not in any way hindered by the fact that public
services are
provided
by private contractors.
37-2.3-3.
Definitions. – As used in this chapter, the following terms shall
have the
following
meanings:
(1)
"Agency" includes any executive office, department, division, board,
commission, or
other
office or officer in the executive branch of the government.
(2)
"Private contractor employee" includes a worker directly employed by
a private
contractor,
as defined in this section, as well as an employee of a subcontractor or an
independent
contractor
that provides supplies or services to a private contractor.
(3)
"Services" includes, with respect to a private contractor, all
aspects of the provision of
services
provided by a private contractor pursuant to a privatization contract, or any
services
provided
by a subcontractor of a private contractor.
(4)
"Person" includes an individual, institution, federal, state, or
local governmental
entity,
or any other public or private entity.
(5)
"Privatization contract" is an agreement or combination or series of
agreements by
which
a nongovernmental person or entity agrees with an agency to provide services,
valued at
one
hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) or more, which are substantially similar to
and in lieu
of,
services heretofore provided, in whole or in part, by regular employees of an
agency.
(6)
"Privatization contractor" is any contractor, consultant,
subcontractor, independent
contractor
or private business owner that contracts with a state agency to perform
services which
are
substantially similar to and in lieu of services heretofore provided, in whole
or in part, by
employees
of an agency.
37-2.3-4.
Fiscal monitoring of privatization contracts. – Each private
contractor shall
file a
copy of each executed subcontract or amendment to the subcontract with the
agency, which
shall
maintain the subcontract or amendment as a public record, as defined in the
access to public
records
act.
(1)
Audits. Privatization contracts shall be subject to audit or review, as defined
by the
American
Institute of Certified Public Accountants, by the office of the auditor general
at the
discretion
of the auditor general. Any audit or review shall be conducted in compliance
with
generally
accepted auditing standards.
(2)
Access. All privatization contracts shall include a contract provision
specifying
language
that provides public access to the complete contract.
(3)
Fiscal accountability. As part of the budgetary process, each state agency
shall
provide
an addendum to their submitted budget request listing all privatization
contracts; the
name
of each contractor, subcontractor, duration of the contract provided and
services provided;
the total
cost of each contract(s) for the prior year; and the projected number of
privatization
service
contracts for the current and upcoming year, the total cost of each contract(s)
for the prior
year;
the estimated costs of each contract(s) for the current and upcoming year. The
addendum
for
each agency shall also contain a summary of contracted private contractor
employees for each
contract,
reflected as full-time equivalent positions, their hourly wage rate, and the
number of
private
contractor employees and consultants for the current and previous fiscal year.
The
addendums
shall be open records.
SECTION
2. Section 42-90-1 of the General Laws in Chapter 42-90 entitled
"Disclosure
of
Names of State Government Consultants" is hereby amended to read as
follows:
42-90-1.
Public disclosure required. -- (a) All departments, commissions,
boards,
councils,
and other agencies in the government of the state shall prepare and submit to
the
secretary
of state quarterly a list containing:
(1) The name of any person who performed legal, medical, accounting,
engineering, or
any
other professional, technical or consultant service to the department,
commission, board,
council,
or agency on a contractual basis during the previous quarter; and
(2) The amount of compensation received by each consultant during the previous
quarter.
(b)
All departments, commissions boards, councils and other agencies in the
government
of
the state shall prepare and submit to the secretary of state on an annual basis
a contracting
report
containing:
(1)
copies of all contracts or agreements by which a nongovernmental person or
entity
agrees
with the department, commission board, council or agency to provide services,
valued at
one
hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) or more, which are substantially similar to
and in lieu of
services
heretofore provided, in whole or in part, by regular employees of the
department,
commission,
board, council or agency; and
(2)
a budget analysis of each contract reported pursuant to subsection 42-90-1(b)
containing
the cost of each contract for the prior, current and next year; and the number
of private
contractor
employees reflected as full-time equivalent positions with their hourly wage
rate, and
costs
of benefits for each job classification for the current and previous year.
(b) (c) The secretary of state shall compile, publish, and make
available for public
inspection
all lists and contracting reports prepared in accordance with this
chapter.
SECTION
3. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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LC00649/SUB A/2
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