Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Capitol Foundation Statute topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
State Capitol Foundation seeks statutory clean-up, asks to reduce annual audits and expand board appointment flexibility
Summary
The Oregon State Capitol Foundation presented changes to its founding statute including moving some duties to Legislative Administration, allowing the foundation to appoint nonlegislative board members, and proposing biennial rather than annual audits to reduce administrative costs.
Genoa Ingram, executive director of the Oregon State Capitol Foundation, asked the committee to approve statutory changes that would update appointment procedures, reduce the frequency of mandated audits, and clarify which legislative entity may solicit gifts and grants.
Ingram said the foundation was created by statute in 1997 and became an independent 501(c)(3) under House Bill 2,037 in 2015. She told the committee that the current statute requires the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House to each appoint three voting directors; the foundation’s review recommended allowing appointment flexibility (for example, “up to 3 individuals from the House and the Senate”) to reduce delays and improve attendance at foundation board meetings.
Ingram also asked the committee to allow nonlegislative board members to be appointed by the foundation rather than waiting for Legislative Administration committee confirmation, citing a case where a member waited more than a year to be able to vote because the appointing committee had not met. She told the committee the foundation currently spends roughly $18,000 annually on audits and proposed moving to a biennial audit schedule, saying those funds could instead support civics education: “I would like to see my money go to programs rather than audits,” she said.
Ingram described programming the foundation funds, including a civics education program that has awarded $270,000 to 19 Oregon-based organizations since 2012 and exhibits in the Capitol and on Capitol grounds. Committee members asked about alternative review approaches and Ingram described internal controls and board-level transaction reviews; she said the foundation’s bookkeeper meets weekly with the treasurer and that the foundation carries errors-and-omissions insurance. No formal committee action was taken at the hearing.
