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Senate Finance sends bill to Senate floor to add Office of Administrative Hearings to statewide cost-allocation billing
Summary
The committee unanimously recommended a due-pass on Senate Bill 1116, which would add the Office of Administrative Hearings to the Statewide Cost Allocation Plan so the office can bill agencies for allowable costs into the general fund. The bill also repeals and replaces specific billing language in statute described in testimony.
The Senate Finance Committee voted unanimously, 10-0, to send Senate Bill 1116 to the Senate floor with a due-pass recommendation. The bill would allow the Office of Administrative Hearings to recover allowable costs into the general fund through the Statewide Cost Allocation Plan.
Justin Collins, state financial officer with the Division of Financial Management, told the committee SB 1116 would add the Office of Administrative Hearings to the group of agencies whose billings are included in the Statewide Cost Allocation Plan (SWCAP). Collins said the change would allow the office to work with DFM to include its billings for the following year in the statewide cost allocation budget, rather than direct-billing those services into separate dedicated funds.
Collins described three components: adding the Office of Administrative Hearings to the bucket of agencies billed through SWCAP; repealing language in statute currently governing the existing billing structure (described in testimony as “60 seven-fifty two-eighty 5”); and adding new language to require the office to work with DFM to build billings into the SWCAP budget.
Senator Janie Ward-Engelking moved to send the bill to the floor with a due-pass recommendation; the motion was seconded and the committee approved it by roll call, with the chair noting a unanimous yes from the committee (10-0). Collins clarified that, like the Attorney General’s Office arrangement, the Office of Administrative Hearings would budget and bill only for the agencies it serves.
Senator Wintrow asked whether the Attorney General’s Office has sufficient capacity to meet demand for legal services across state agencies; Collins deferred that operational capacity question to the Attorney General’s Office and reiterated that SB 1116 itself adds the Office of Administrative Hearings to SWCAP rather than changing the Attorney General’s staffing or billing practices.
With the committee action complete, SB 1116 will proceed to the full Senate calendar; if it advances, funding and any budget implications will be considered later in the budget process.
