HB 17-1005

HB 17-1005 is a Colorado bill that updates laws related to the state auditor's office. It removes outdated requirements and restrictions, such as allowing the legislative audit committee to request performance audits of public highway authorities at any time without waiting for specific committees to meet. The bill also eliminates an old rule requiring the department of revenue to provide monthly reports to the state treasurer and auditor since this practice is no longer relevant. Additionally, it gets rid of a fee that counties had to pay when exchanging warrants for bonds, which is no longer needed. Since the bill has been signed, these changes are now in effect, meaning the state auditor's office operates under updated rules that reflect current practices better.

Official Summary

Statutory Revision Committee. The bill updates various statutes pertaining to the office of the state auditor (OSA). Currently, the legislative audit committee (LAC) has the discretion to direct the state auditor to conduct a performance audit of any public highway authority; except that the LAC may not do so in any year during which the interim transportation legislation review committee (TLRC) meets. However, the TLRC is statutorily required to meet every year. Consequently, section 1 of the bill repeals the timing limitation so that such a performance audit can be requested at any time. The executive director of the department of revenue (DOR) is currently required to account monthly to the state treasurer regarding working capital retained by DOR and to provide copies of this accounting to the governor and the state auditor. Because DOR does not retain working capital, section 2 repeals this obsolete provision. Additionally, the state treasurer must provide copies of receipts for money transmitted daily from the executive director of DOR to the state auditor, in addition to providing one copy to the executive director and retaining one copy for his or her files. Section 2 also removes the requirement to provide the state auditor these copies. Pursuant to a statute created in 1881, holders of warrants from counties with more than $50,000 in floating indebtedness may exchange those warrants for county bonds, if the exchange is approved by election. County bonds so exchanged must be registered with OSA, and a ten-cent fee must be paid to OSA for recording each bond. Because this registration provision is obsolete, section 3 repeals the registration and recording fee requirements. Section 4 repeals an obsolete provision relating to an audit of the estimated actual operating costs of the enhanced emissions inspections program contractor, which audit was required to be completed by the end of 2001. (Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)

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