Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Treasurer defends bank cash; lawmakers press him on $1.6B SKIS entries and governance
Loading...
Summary
State Treasurer Curtis Loftus told the subcommittee that Alex Partners' forensic review found the $1.6 billion SKIS entries did not represent bank cash, and he defended the treasurer's office as the state's banker while lawmakers questioned why the discrepancy wasn't reported earlier.
State Treasurer Curtis Loftus appeared before the Constitutional Subcommittee on Jan. 29 and faced extended questioning about entries in SKIS (the state's accounting system) tied to fund 993 and the recent Alex Partners forensic review.
Loftus said Alex Partners concluded the roughly $1.6 billion of accounting entries in the SKIS conversion did not represent actual bank cash. He told the panel the treasurer’s office manages and invests the state’s cash and that, according to the forensic review, the bank balances reconcile: "The Alex Partners audit determined that the $1,600,000,000 is not real cash, and I have no reason to question their determination at this time," he said. "The most important thing I'd say is not 1 penny is missing. Not 1 state agency has a dollar more or a dollar less. The state doesn't have a dollar more or a dollar less."
Lawmakers pressed Loftus over several points the report raised and over public statements. Representative Yao asked directly, "Was the $1,600,000,000 actual money?" Loftus responded that the distinction is between accounting representation (funds in SKIS) and bank cash and that the treasurer’s office invests pooled cash by portfolios rather than by SKIS fund.
Several members pressed who created and controlled fund 993; testimony in the hearing identified the State Treasurer's Office as the custodian of bank and investment functions while the Comptroller General sets fund structures in SKIS. Loftus said fund 30350993 is under the exclusive authority of the State Treasurer's Office but reiterated that SKIS fund balances are an accounting construct and not a bank account.
The hearing also reviewed a 2018 movement of $289 million into account 993; committee members noted that only $245 million of that represented actual cash and asked why such a large entry occurred into an account that "does not hold cash" in the treasurer's description. Loftus said he did not have the granular answer to that specific entry at hand and said much of the reconciling work requires detail from the Alex Partners forensic work and from SKIS transaction reporting that his office has requested.
Tension at the hearing centered on accountability and disclosure. Several lawmakers said the discrepancy and the special SKIS fund had not been raised with the legislature earlier and that earlier reporting might have avoided spending millions on a forensic review. Loftus urged focus on limiting state fiscal damage and said governance and communication failures — not missing cash — are the core concern.
The subcommittee did not take formal action at the conclusion of the testimony; members said they will continue oversight and follow up on requests for detailed transaction information and on implementation of recommendations from the forensic review.
