REPORT DIGEST

JOINT COMMITTEE ON ADMINISTRATIVE RULES

COMPLIANCE AUDIT
For the Two Years Ended:
June 30, 1996

Summary of Findings:

Release Date:
May 30, 1997

State of Illinois
Office of the Auditor General

WILLIAM G. HOLLAND
AUDITOR GENERAL

Iles Park Plaza
740 E. Ash Street
Springfield, IL 62703
(217) 782-6046

SYNOPSIS

• JCAR has not complied with statutory mandates which require evaluation of all State forms and the evaluation of all agency rules at least once every five years. This condition has existed since 1988.

• JCAR has not maintained accurate accounting records or performed monthly reconciliations of receipts and expenditures as required by statute and Comptroller procedures.

{Expenditures and Activity Measures are summarized on the reverse page.}

FY 1996

FY 1995

FY 1994

• Total Expenditures (All Funds)

$732,046

$670,442

$650,713

OPERATIONS TOTAL
% of Total Expenditures

$732,046
100.00%

$670,442
100.00%

$650,713
100.00%

Personal Services
% of Operations Expenditures
Average No. of Employees

$562,118
76.79%
22

$499,893
74.56%
19

$489,348
75.20%
19

Other Payroll Costs (FICA, Retirement)
% of Operations Expenditures

$89,238
12.19%

$86,969
12.97%

$83,018
12.76%

Contractual Services
% of Operations Expenditures

$44,254
6.04%

$38,622
5.76%

$30,335
4.66%

All Other Operations Items
% of Operations Expenditures

$36,436
4.98%

$44,958
6.71%

$48,012
7.38%

• Cost of Property and Equipment

$174,163

$179,469

$175,530

FY 96

FY 95

Rules received/reviewed
Objections made
Recommendations made
Voted to prohibit the filing of a rule

627
17
16
0

538
15
12
3

AGENCY DIRECTOR

Evaluation of all State forms and agency rules

Refunds and expenditures were not accurately recorded

Monthly reconciliations were not performed in all instances

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND
RECOMMENDATIONS

NONCOMPLIANCE WITH ILLINOIS ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES ACT

 

The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) has not complied with certain statutory mandates of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act (5 ILCS 100/1-1 et seq.). We noted the following:

• JCAR did not evaluate and analyze all State forms which have been developed or revised since 1984 to identify the burden, if any, of completing such forms by small businesses.

• JCAR did not evaluate the rules of each agency at least once every five years.

We recommended JCAR develop and implement a formal long range plan which would address methods to bring operations in compliance with statutory requirements, and seek legislative changes for redundant or obsolete statutes. (Finding 1, page 6)

JCAR responded that it will attempt to develop a plan for submission to the General Assembly in funding the operations of the Agency and is drafting legislative changes for consideration. This finding has been repeated since 1988. (For previous agency responses, see Digest Footnote 1.)

 

INACCURATE ACCOUNTING RECORDS

 

JCAR did not maintain accurate accounting records or perform monthly reconciliations of receipts and expenditures as required by Comptroller procedures. We noted:

• Four of 4 refunds received during the audit period were not recorded or were recorded for the wrong amount.

• Expenditure records for 6 of 18 appropriation line items were inaccurate and did not agree with the State Comptroller's records.

• Monthly reconciliations of agency receipts to Comptroller records were not performed in 11 of 24 instances.

• Monthly reconciliations of agency expenditures to Comptroller records were not performed in 15 of 24 instances.

We recommended JCAR perform monthly reconciliations of agency receipts and expenditures to Comptroller records as required by CUSAS to ensure accurate accounting records are maintained. JCAR stated it will give the reconciliation process greater priority than in the past. (Finding 3, page 9)

OTHER FINDINGS

The remaining findings were less significant and agency officials have responded that appropriate corrective action has taken place. We will review the Agency's progress towards implementation of our recommendations during our next audit.

Vicki Thomas, Executive Director, provided responses to our findings and recommendations.

AUDITORS' OPINION

We conducted a compliance audit of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules as required by the Illinois State Auditing Act. The Agency has no locally held funds or federal or State trust funds. Consequently, there are no financial statements requiring a financial audit leading to an opinion.

____________________________________
WILLIAM G. HOLLAND, Auditor General

WGH:GSS:pp

AUDITORS ASSIGNED

This audit was performed by staff of the Office of the Auditor General.

DIGEST FOOTNOTES

#1: NONCOMPLIANCE WITH ILLINOIS ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES ACT - Previous Agency Responses

1994: "JCAR acknowledges that it has not been able to carry out the statutory requirement that it conduct a 5-year review of all the rules of all State agencies. During 4 years early in JCAR's 15-year history (1980-83), an attempt was made to conduct these reviews, but that effort had to be abandoned for lack of adequate staff resources to conduct both on-going review of new regulations and the 5-year periodic review. To responsibly fulfill both these mandates would require at least twice the staff resources that have been available to JCAR. . . . JCAR will again consider this issue when it devises its legislative recommendations."

1992: "JCAR acknowledges that it has not been able to carry out the statutory requirement that it conduct a 5-year review of all the rules of all State agencies. During 4 years early in JCAR's 15-year history (1980-83), an attempt was made to conduct these reviews, but that effort had to be abandoned for lack of adequate staff resources to conduct both on-going review of new regulations and the 5-year periodic review. To responsibly fulfill both these mandates would require at least twice the staff resources that have been available to JCAR. . . . JCAR will again consider this issue when it devises its legislative recommendations for 1994."

1990: "We concur with the finding, and since forms evaluation is part of the five-year review program, the Joint Committee will again introduce legislation identical to House Bill 1674 in the 1991 Spring Session of the General Assembly to make five-year review of agency rulemaking permissive rather than mandatory."

1988: "[Mr. Bruce Johnson, Director] I concur with the recommendation. I will recommend that the Joint Committee either amend Sections 7.08 and 7.6 of the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act to make the five year review and the evaluation of State forms permissive or that the Joint Committee request additional funding in order to comply."