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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR K. Martinez

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/5/07

HB HJM 25

SHORT TITLE

Public Resource Misuse Special Audit

SB

ANALYST Propst

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Public Education Department (PED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

HJM 25 requests the State Auditor to convene a “financial audit task force" to address issues of

abuse of public resources and other financial improprieties.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

Increased use of audits and other tools known to be effective in the detection and deterrence of

fraud can result in significant savings of government resources. Some anticipated results of the

Task Force that would contribute to this objective could be:

.

Expansion of the internal audit function in state government. The LFC in its report

Review of Internal Audit Function and Offices of Inspector General (March 2006)

recommended expansion of the internal audit function in state government agencies, and

its introduction in many agencies that currently lack internal audit.

.

Increase in the fraud detection activities of the Office of the State Auditor.

.

Better cooperation between auditors with fraud detection responsibilities, fraud

investigators and prosecutors.

.

Better awareness among government senior executives and managers of the risks and

available remedies for occupational fraud.

House Joint Memorial 25 – Page

2

HJM requires the State Auditor to invite the Attorney General, the U.S. Attorney for New

Mexico, federal law enforcement agencies, the Taxation and Revenue Department, executive

oversight agencies, District Attorneys and other local law enforcement agencies deemed

necessary by the State Auditor to participate in the Task Force.

The Task Force is to report its finding through the Legislative Finance Committee and other

appropriate interim committees by November 15, 2007

WEP/mt