The Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee approved a proposed bill that will give Alabama’s State Auditor the ability to conduct investigations into missing state property.
State Sen. Andrew Jones (R-Centre) introduced the legislation that creates a new Division of Investigations within the Office of the State Auditor.
The law would allow the State Auditor to investigate the loss, theft or damage of state property and to demand repayment for the value of lost, stolen, or damaged property due to an act of negligence.
State Auditor Andrew Sorrell discussed his support for the legislation on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program.”
“I do not need any additional staff,” Sorrell said. “I do not need any additional funding to do anything that’s in this bill. And the examiners, the Public Accounts and the Attorney General’s office have reviewed this bill and have no concerns with it. So, I’m not anticipating a whole lot of opposition to this bill. And then it also updates the existing code to some more modern language and make some other important technical revisions.”
Sorrell also explained how the law would be enforced.
“It creates more accountability for State Property and mandates reporting of lost or stolen property to us within 30 days,” he said. “It authorizes my office to conduct investigations into missing state property. And when we find that there was negligent loss or damage to state property, it authorizes us and the Attorney General to issue demand letters for repayment to the state. And then if the demand letters are ignored, then the Attorney General can bring civil action against the person who owes the money back to the state.”
The State Auditor said the bill should get broad support.
“Hey, you know, we’re down to just nine legislative days left. So I think if anything kills it, it’ll be the lack of time left in the session,” he explained. “But let’s just say I give us better than 50/50 odds.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
