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Wyoming Legislature

Committee Meeting Summary of Proceedings

Management Audit Committee

September 9, 2005

The Inn at Lander Best Western

Lander, Wyoming

Meeting Attendance

Committee Members Present

Representative Randall Luthi, Chairman

Senator Grant Larson, Vice Chairman

Senator Ken Decaria

Senator John Hanes

Senator Kit Jennings

Senator John Schiffer

Senator Kathryn Sessions

Representative Roy Cohee

Representative Debbie Hammons

Representative Pete Illoway

Representative Marty Martin

Legislative Service Office

Barbara J. Rogers, Program Evaluation Manager; Paula Gordinier, Program Evaluator; Michael Swank, Program Evaluator; Karla Smith, Associate Program Evaluator

Others Present

Please refer to Appendix 1 to review the Committee Sign-in Sheet for a list of other individuals who attended the meeting.

Written Meeting Materials and Handouts

All meeting materials and handouts provided to the Committee by the Legislative Service Office (LSO), public officials, lobbyists, and the public are referenced in the Meeting Materials Index, attached to the minutes.  These materials are on file at the LSO and are part of the official record of the meeting. 

Call To Order

Chairman Luthi called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m.  The following sections summarize the Committee proceedings by topic.  Please refer to Appendix 2 to review the Committee Meeting Agenda.

Approval of Minutes

The minutes from the June 20, 2005 meeting were approved as written.

Executive Session

Chairman Luthi resolved the Committee into Executive Session for consideration of a staff presentation on the draft report, Foster Care.  The Committee discussed the report’s findings and recommendations with DFS officials. 

Open Session

Chairman Luthi opened the meeting.  Senator Larson moved and Representative Martin seconded a motion to release the report, Foster Care, at noon on Friday, September 16.  Members went on to discuss actions the Committee could take; by consensus, members agreed the Chairman should send a letter to DFS requesting information on progress the agency has made in specific areas, with the response to be submitted by the time of the next Committee meeting.  Areas of inquiry include:  Child Support Enforcement collections on behalf of children in foster care; increased stipends for foster parents; realignment of the Department’s relationship with Child Placing Agencies; performance based contracts for CPAs and a copy of a standard contract; internal audit function to verify consistency of payments; information about the tool used to assess foster children’s needs for services; an accounting of how much of which federal and state funds are used to support foster care (not including therapeutic foster care), the methodology used to determine those amounts, and assurance that this information will be tracked as a separate line item in the future; a clear definition of therapeutic foster care; information about how much federal IV-E funding is available and how the state can maximize collection of those funds; and any other issues the Chairman deems appropriate.  The Committee would also like DFS to report on what happened after it imposed the 3.5 percent reduction in rates to residential treatment centers, and whether community behaviors appear to have been affected by the reduction.

Ms. Rogers reported that for the ninth year in a row, the Program Evaluation Division has received the Impact Award from NLPES, a section of the National Conference of State Legislatures.  The award is given to those states that can demonstrate tangible ways in which an audited agency, the legislature, or both have made changes based on information and recommendations from a performance audit or program evaluation.  Wyoming’s 2005 submission was the 2003 report entitled Workers’ Compensation Claims Processing.  Ms. Rogers stressed the importance of the Committee’s support for evaluation reports in ensuring that agencies work to implement recommendations.

Following Committee discussion, the Chairman determined that the next meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 14 in Cheyenne, to consider the draft report on The State Board of Education/Superintendent of Public Instruction Relationship.

Committee members discussed possible future topics and requests for scoping papers.  Representative Cohee suggested a study of working conditions at the state penitentiary, including the sufficiency of staffing, adequacy of staff training, and an examination of worker safety and salary issues.  Representative Illoway suggested a study of the Department of Health, and Representative Hammons suggested a study of the state’s compensation system as it pertains to competitive salaries for professionals in unique and hard-to-recruit categories.  Chairman Luthi requested that members hold those ideas for further discussion at the December meeting.

Meeting Adjournment

There being no further business, Chairman Luthi adjourned the meeting at 5:05 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Representative Randall Luthi, Chairman