Bill Text: NJ SCR31 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Proposes amendment to State Constitution to provide for elected State Comptroller who will perform described duties of current State Comptroller, State Auditor, Inspector General, and Medicaid Inspector General.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-01-12 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee [SCR31 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2010-SCR31-Introduced.html

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SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 31

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

214th LEGISLATURE

 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2010 SESSION

 

 

Sponsored by:

Senator  STEVEN V. OROHO

District 24 (Sussex, Hunterdon and Morris)

 

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Proposes amendment to State Constitution to provide for elected State Comptroller who will perform described duties of current State Comptroller, State Auditor, Inspector General, and Medicaid Inspector General.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel

  

A Concurrent Resolution amending Articles II, IV, V and VII of the Constitution of the State of New Jersey.

 

     Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey (the General Assembly concurring):

 

     1.  The following proposed amendment to the Constitution of the State of New Jersey is hereby agreed to:

 

PROPOSED AMENDMENT

 

     a.  Amend Article II, Section I, paragraph 1 to read as follows:

     1.  General elections shall be held annually on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November; but the time of holding such elections may be altered by law.  The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, State Comptroller and members of the Legislature shall be chosen at general elections.  Local elective officers shall be chosen at general elections or at such other times as shall be provided by law.

(cf:  Art. II, Sec. I, para. 1, effective January 17, 2006)

 

     b.  Amend Article IV, Section V, paragraphs 1 and 5 to read as follows:

     1.  No member of the Senate or General Assembly, during the term for which the member shall have been elected, shall be nominated, elected or appointed to any State civil office or position, of profit, which shall have been created by law, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased by law, during such term.  The provisions of this paragraph shall not prohibit the election of any person as Governor, as Lieutenant Governor, as State Comptroller or as a member of the Senate or General Assembly.

(cf:  Art. IV, Sec. V, para. 1, effective January 17, 2006)

 

     5.  Neither the Legislature nor either house thereof shall elect or appoint any executive, administrative or judicial officer [except the State Auditor].

(cf:  Art. IV, Sec. V, para. 5)

 

     c.  Amend Article V, Section I, paragraphs 2 and 3 to read as follows:

     2.   The Governor and the State Comptroller shall be not less than thirty years of age, and shall have been for at least twenty years [a citizen] citizens of the United States, and [a resident] residents of this State seven years next before election, unless [the Governor shall have been] absent during that time on the public business of the United States or of this State.  A person shall be eligible for the office of Lieutenant Governor only if eligible under this Constitution for the office of Governor.

(cf:  Art. V, Sec. I, para. 2, amended effective January 17, 2006)

 

     3.  No member of Congress or person holding any office or position, of profit, under this State or the United States shall be Governor or Lieutenant Governor or State Comptroller.  If the Governor or Lieutenant Governor, or person administering the office of Governor, or the State Comptroller shall accept any other office or position, of profit, under this State or the United States, the office of Governor or Lieutenant Governor or State Comptroller, as the case may be, shall thereby be vacated.  No Governor or Lieutenant Governor or State Comptroller shall be elected by the Legislature to any office during the term for which the person shall have been elected Governor or Lieutenant Governor or State Comptroller.

(cf:  Art. V, Sec. I, para. 3, amended effective January 17, 2006)

 

     d.  Amend Article V, Section IV, paragraph 1 to read as follows:

     1.  All executive and administrative offices, departments, and instrumentalities of the State government, including the offices of State Comptroller, Secretary of State and Attorney General, and their respective functions, powers and duties, shall be allocated by law among and within not more than twenty principal departments, in such manner as to group the same according to major purposes so far as practicable. Temporary commissions for special purposes may, however, be established by law and such commissions need not be allocated within a principal department.

(cf: Art. V, Sec. IV, para. 1)

 

     e.  Amend Article VII, Section I, paragraph 6 to read as follows:

     6.  [The State Auditor shall be appointed by the Senate and General Assembly in joint meeting for a term of five years and until his successor shall be appointed and qualify. It shall be his duty to conduct post-audits of all transactions and accounts kept by or for all departments, offices and agencies of the State government, to report to the Legislature or to any committee thereof as shall be required by law, and to perform such other similar or related duties as shall, from time to time, be required of him by law.]

     The State Comptroller shall be the head of the Office of State Comptroller in the Executive Branch of State Government.  The State Comptroller shall exercise all of the powers and duties heretofore conferred by this Constitution or by law on the State Comptroller, State Auditor, Inspector General, and Medicaid Inspector General, as such powers and duties are described herein and imposed, or modified from time to time, by law, as well as such additional powers and duties as may be imposed, from time to time, by law.

     The State Comptroller shall have the power and duty with regard to the Executive Branch of State government, including all entities exercising Executive Branch authority, public institutions of higher education, independent State authorities, units of local government and boards of education, to establish a full-time program of audit and performance review designed to provide accountability, integrity, and oversight through routine, periodic and random audits, including post-audits of all transactions and accounts kept by or for all departments, offices and agencies of the State government and forensic audits, and assessments of the performance and management of programs; and consolidate within the Office of the State Comptroller the coordination of the internal and external audit functions, including but not limited to economy and efficiency audits. 

     The State Comptroller shall audit and monitor the process of soliciting proposals for, and the process of awarding and executing, contracts made by the Executive Branch of State government, including all entities exercising Executive Branch authority, public institutions of higher education, independent State authorities, units of local government and boards of education that involve a significant consideration or expenditure of funds or are comprised of complex or unique components, or both, as determined by the State Comptroller, including public employer-employee labor collective bargaining agreements.

     The State Comptroller shall oversee Medicaid or successor program integrity through means including, but not limited to: the detection, prevention, and investigation of fraud and abuse; the recovery of improperly expended Medicaid funds; enforcement; audit; quality review; compliance; referral of criminal prosecutions; investigation; and the oversight of information technology relating to Medicaid fraud and abuse.

     The State Comptroller shall establish a full-time program of investigation concerning alleged fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement of State funds, designed to provide increased accountability, integrity, and oversight of:

     all recipients of State funds, including, but not limited to, State departments and agencies, independent authorities, county and municipal governments, and boards of education; and

     the performance of governmental officers, employees, appointees, functions, and programs in order to promote efficiency, to identify cost savings, and to detect and prevent misconduct within the programs and operations of any governmental agency funded by, or disbursing, State funds.

     The first elected State Comptroller shall be entitled to retain, upon taking office, any existing employees of the Office of the State Comptroller in the Executive Branch of State Government, and shall be entitled to employ in a deputy role the State Auditor currently serving.

     No diminution in the functions, powers, and duties of the State Comptroller, whether by law or by executive order or proclamation, enacted, adopted or issued after the election of any person to that office shall take effect until another person has been elected to succeed that person and has qualified into office.

(cf: Art. VII, Sec. I, para. 6)

 

     f.  Amend Article VII, Section I by the addition of the following new paragraph 7:

     7  a.  The State Comptroller shall be elected by the legally qualified voters of this State for a term of four years, beginning at noon of the third Tuesday in January of an odd numbered year.  A person who is a candidate for State Comptroller shall not simultaneously seek election to another office.  The candidate for State Comptroller receiving the greatest number of votes shall be elected to that office.  If two or more candidacies shall be equal and greatest in votes, one candidate shall be elected by the vote of a majority of all the members of both houses in joint meeting at the regular legislative session next following the election for State Comptroller by the people.  Contested elections for the office of State Comptroller shall be determined in such manner as may be provided by law.

     b.  A person who has been elected State Comptroller for two successive terms, including an unexpired term, shall not be eligible again for that office until the third Tuesday in January of the fourth year following the expiration of the second successive term served by that person.

     c.  In the event of a vacancy in the office of State Comptroller resulting from the death, resignation, or removal of a State Comptroller in office, or the death of a State Comptroller-elect, a State Comptroller shall be elected to fill the unexpired term of office at the next general election, unless the vacancy occurs within 60 days immediately preceding a general election in which case the State Comptroller shall be elected at the second succeeding general election. A State Comptroller elected for an unexpired term shall assume office immediately upon election. An election to fill an unexpired term shall not be held in any year in which a State Comptroller is to be elected for a full term.

     d.  In the event a State Comptroller-elect fails to qualify, or a State Comptroller is absent from the State, is unable to discharge the duties of the office, or is impeached, or in the event of a vacancy pursuant to c. or e. of this paragraph, the functions, powers, duties, and emoluments of office shall devolve in such manner as shall be provided by law.

     e.  In the event a State Comptroller-elect fails to qualify, or a State Comptroller is continuously absent from the State, or is continuously unable to discharge the duties of the office for a period of six months, the office shall be deemed vacant by a determination of the Supreme Court upon presentment to it of a concurrent resolution declaring the ground of the vacancy, adopted by a vote of two-thirds of all the members of each house of the Legislature, and upon hearing with prior notice before the Court and proof of the existence of the vacancy.

     f.  The State Comptroller shall receive for services a salary which shall be neither increased nor diminished during the period for which the State Comptroller shall have been elected or appointed.

 

     2. When this proposed amendment to the Constitution is finally agreed to pursuant to Article IX, paragraph 1 of the Constitution, it shall be submitted to the people at the next general election occurring more than three months after the final agreement and shall be published at least once in at least one newspaper of each county designated by the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the General Assembly and the Secretary of State, not less than three months prior to the general election.

 

     3. This proposed amendment to the Constitution shall be submitted to the people at that election in the following manner and form:

     There shall be printed on each official ballot to be used at the general election, the following:

     a. In every municipality in which voting machines are not used, a legend which shall immediately precede the question as follows:

     If you favor the proposition printed below make a cross (X), plus (+), or check (a) in the square opposite the word "Yes." If you are opposed thereto make a cross (X), plus (+) or check (a) in the square opposite the word "No."

     b. In every municipality the following question:

 

		CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROVIDING FOR ELECTION OF STATE COMPTROLLER AND ABOLISHING THE OFFICE OF THE STATE AUDITOR
	YES	Shall the amendments to Articles II, IV, V and VII of the Constitution of the State of New Jersey, agreed to by the Legislature, providing for the election by the people of the State Comptroller, who shall be the head of an Office of State Comptroller with the powers and duties of the current State Comptroller, State Auditor, Inspector General, Medicaid Inspector General and such other powers and duties as may be required by the State Constitution or by law, and abolishing the office of the State Auditor, be approved?
		INTERPRETIVE STATEMENT
	NO	This constitutional amendment provides for the popular election of a State Comptroller for a term of four years.  The State Comptroller will head the Office of State Comptroller. Currently, the State Comptroller, a recently established statutory officer responsible for financial audits and performance reviews of the State and its political subdivisions, is appointed by the Governor for a six-year term with the advice and consent of the Senate, and is subject to removal by the Governor for cause.  This amendment will make the State Comptroller an independent officer elected Statewide.  This amendment requires the State Comptroller to perform the powers and duties conferred on the current State Comptroller, State Auditor, Inspector General, and Medicaid Inspector General with regard to the auditing and oversight of the financial affairs of the State and its political subdivisions, as such powers and duties are described in the amendment.  The State Comptroller may exercise such additional powers and duties as may be required, from time to time, by the State Constitution or by law.  The amendment also abolishes the office of State Auditor.

SCHEDULE

 

     The first election of a State Comptroller shall take place at the general election in 2010 and, until the first State Comptroller so elected takes office, the State Comptroller, State Auditor, Inspector General, and Medicaid Inspector General shall continue to be appointed, and to exercise their respective offices, as currently provided by the State Constitution or by law.  A person serving as State Comptroller, or acting State Comptroller, pursuant to statute, at any time prior to the adoption of this amendment shall not be eligible to seek election to office as State Comptroller.

 

 

STATEMENT

 

     This concurrent resolution proposes a constitutional amendment to provide for the Statewide popular election of the State Comptroller for a four year term, but serving no more than two consecutive terms.  Currently, the State Comptroller is a recently established statutory officer in, but not of, the Department of the Treasury, who is appointed for a six year term by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate, and is responsible directly to the Governor.  The elected State Comptroller will be the head of an Office of State Comptroller. 

     It is intended that the State Comptroller's powers and duties will be those recently established for the Office of the State Comptroller by law, pursuant to N.J.S.A.52:15C-1 et al., as well as those of the current State Auditor, Inspector General and Medicaid Inspector General.

     The amendment describes the powers and duties as follows.

     The State Comptroller will:

     * have the power and duty with regard to the Executive Branch of State government, including all entities exercising Executive Branch authority, public institutions of higher education, independent State authorities, units of local government and boards of education, to establish a full-time program of audit and performance review designed to provide accountability, integrity, and oversight through routine, periodic and random audits, including post-audits of all transactions and accounts kept by or for all departments, offices and agencies of the State government and forensic audits, and assessments of the performance and management of programs; and consolidate within the Office of the State Comptroller the coordination of the internal and external audit functions, including but not limited to economy and efficiency audits; 

     * audit and monitor the process of soliciting proposals for, and the process of awarding and executing, contracts made by the Executive Branch of State government, including all entities exercising Executive Branch authority, public institutions of higher education, independent State authorities, units of local government and boards of education that involve a significant consideration or expenditure of funds or are comprised of complex or unique components, or both, as determined by the State Comptroller, including public employer-employee labor collective bargaining agreements;

     * oversee Medicaid or successor program integrity through means including, but not limited to: the detection, prevention, and investigation of fraud and abuse; the recovery of improperly expended Medicaid funds; enforcement; audit; quality review; compliance; referral of criminal prosecutions; investigation; and the oversight of information technology relating to Medicaid fraud and abuse; and

     * establish a full-time program of investigation concerning alleged fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement of State funds, designed to provide increased accountability, integrity, and oversight of: (1) all recipients of State funds, including, but not limited to, State departments and agencies, independent authorities, county and municipal governments, and boards of education; and (2) the performance of governmental officers, employees, appointees, functions, and programs in order to promote efficiency, to identify cost savings, and to detect and prevent misconduct within the programs and operations of any governmental agency funded by, or disbursing, State funds.

     The consolidation of the powers and duties of these existing State officers within an Office of State Comptroller will allow for the systematic, efficient, and coordinated review and oversight of the financial and programmatic functions and interactions of the State and its political subdivisions. 

     The amendment abolishes the office of State Auditor because the duties of that office within the legislative branch concerning post-financial audits and discretionary performance reviews of State government entities and certain school districts will be performed by the elected State Comptroller.  The amendment provides for the first elected State Comptroller to be entitled to retain, upon taking office, any existing employees of the Office of the State Comptroller in the Executive Branch of State Government, and to employ in a deputy role the State Auditor currently serving.

     Approval of this amendment to the State Constitution will result in a State Comptroller who is a truly independent officer.  The election of a State Comptroller will be held in each year before the year in which the Governor and Lieutenant Governor are elected.  The election of a State Comptroller will be held in even-numbered years in which elections for members of Congress or the President of the United States are held.

     This State has a great need for a truly independent State officer to provide vigorous and coordinated oversight of the financial affairs of the State and its political subdivisions.  The current level of executive and political power of the Governor makes it unlikely that the current State Comptroller, as appointed and controlled by the Governor, will fill that need.  Over the past few years, legislation has been enacted to create the positions of State Comptroller, Inspector General and Medicaid Inspector General.  These new State officers, along with the State Auditor, provide a fragmented approach to financial oversight and advocacy on behalf of the taxpayers of the State and its political subdivisions.  Making the State Comptroller the second and separately elected State-level official is the only means of providing independent and responsive oversight and advocacy that is efficient, coordinated, and avoids duplication of effort and resources.  An elected State Comptroller will serve the needs of the entire State.