Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Secretary Of State Supplemental topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee reviews supplemental appropriation request to cover Secretary of State shortfalls tied to credit‑card fee policy change
Summary
Senate Bill 458 would provide a supplemental appropriation to the Secretary of State for unanticipated shortfalls related to travel, operating and information services expenses that arose after the office changed its customer credit‑card fee policy; the office and LCB outlined a timeline and itemized the $773,148 shortfall by category.
Senate Bill 458 would appropriate supplemental funds to the Office of the Secretary of State to cover unanticipated shortfalls for travel, operating and information‑services expenses tied to a policy change involving customer credit‑card fees.
"When Secretary Aguilar took office in 2023, one of the things we looked at changing was the practice of the office paying customers' credit‑card fees," said Gabriel de Cara, chief deputy secretary of state. The office began charging customers a 2.5% transaction fee to align with common state practice; however, the office incurred expenses for contractors, IT upgrades and other operations before the funds to cover those costs could be repurposed or appropriated.
LCB timeline and amounts: Sarah Kaufman of the Legislative Counsel Bureau outlined a timeline: the legislature included approximately $3.1 million each year in the 2023–25 biennium for credit‑card processing fees but the Secretary of State implemented the customer fee on July 17, 2023. A work program to expend $1.7 million was withdrawn on April 5 after an Authorizations Act determination required IFC approval. The office subsequently sought other savings but brought the supplemental request to cover costs it had already incurred.
Itemized shortfall: de Cara provided an itemization totaling $773,148 for the current supplemental request: travel $14,505; operating (contractors supporting the notary division) $352,109; and information services $406,534. De Cara emphasized many of the expenditures supported core services (notary processing, securities investigations) rather than election activities.
Outcome: Committee members voiced frustration at the process and asked that agencies obtain written legislative authorization before incurring similar expenses in the future. The committee closed the hearing on SB458; no vote was recorded at the session.
