Enacts the "improper payments reporting and reduction act" to require state agencies to annually report on their improper payments and to seek to reduce or eliminate such payments.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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8122--A
IN SENATE
June 9, 2010
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Introduced by Sens. KLEIN, AUBERTINE, FOLEY, MAZIARZ, PERALTA -- read
twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the
Committee on Finance -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to enacting the "improper
payments reporting and reduction act"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The executive law is amended by adding a new article 4-B to
2 read as follows:
3 ARTICLE 4-B
4 IMPROPER PAYMENTS REPORTING AND REDUCTION ACT
5 Section 56. Short title.
6 56-a. Definitions.
7 57. Identification of susceptible programs and activities.
8 57-a. Estimation of improper payments.
9 57-b. Reports on actions to reduce improper payments.
10 58. Improper payment estimate guidance group.
11 59. Application of article.
12 § 56. Short title. This article shall be known and may be cited as the
13 "improper payments reporting and reduction act".
14 § 56-a. Definitions. As used in this article, the following terms
15 shall mean:
16 1. "Agency" means any executive branch agency, department, division,
17 office, board, commission, public authority (other than a multi-state or
18 multi-national authority) or public benefit corporation, with an annual
19 budget of at least twenty million dollars, the head of which is
20 appointed by the governor.
21 2. "Improper payment" means any payment that should not have been made
22 or that was made in an incorrect amount, including overpayments and
23 underpayments, whether under statutory, contractual, administrative or
24 other legally applicable requirements. Such term shall include, but not
25 be limited to, any payment to an ineligible recipient, any payment for
26 an ineligible service, any duplicate payment, payments for services not
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD17679-03-0
S. 8122--A 2
1 received and any payment that does not account for credit for applicable
2 discounts.
3 3. "Payment" means any payment, including a commitment for future
4 payment, that is made by an agency, a state contractor, or a govern-
5 mental or other organization administering a state program or activity,
6 and which derived from state funds or other state resources, or that
7 will be reimbursed from state funds or other state resources.
8 § 57. Identification of susceptible programs and activities. The head
9 of each agency shall, in accordance with guidelines promulgated pursuant
10 to section fifty-eight of this article, annually review all programs and
11 activities that it administers, and identify all such programs and
12 activities that may be susceptible to improper payments.
13 § 57-a. Estimation of improper payments. With respect to each program
14 and activity identified in section fifty-seven of this article, the head
15 of the agency shall:
16 1. estimate the annual amount of improper payments; and
17 2. report such estimate to the public, and the chairs of the senate
18 finance committee and the assembly ways and means committee on or before
19 January first of the succeeding calendar year, and shall be posted on
20 the agency's internet website and any other website established pursuant
21 to section fifty-eight of this article.
22 All agencies shall use the same method of reporting, as prescribed by
23 section fifty-eight of this article.
24 § 57-b. Reports on actions to reduce improper payments. With respect
25 to any program or activity of an agency with identified improper
26 payments pursuant to section fifty-seven of this article, the head of
27 the agency shall include with the estimate pursuant to section fifty-
28 seven-a of this article a report on what actions the agency is taking to
29 reduce the improper payments, including:
30 1. a discussion of the causes of the improper payments identified,
31 actions taken to correct those causes, and results of the actions taken
32 to address those causes;
33 2. a statement of whether the agency has the information systems and
34 other infrastructure it needs in order to reduce improper payments to
35 minimal cost-effective levels;
36 3. if the agency does not have such systems and infrastructure, a
37 description of the resources the agency has requested in its budget
38 submission to obtain the necessary information systems and infrastruc-
39 ture; and
40 4. a description of the steps the agency has taken to ensure that
41 agency managers (including the agency head) are held accountable for
42 reducing improper payments.
43 § 58. Improper payment estimate guidance group. 1. There shall be
44 established, within the executive branch, the improper payment estimate
45 guidance group. Such group shall be composed of the director of the
46 budget who shall chair the group, the state inspector general, the
47 inspector general of the metropolitan transportation authority and the
48 welfare inspector general.
49 2. Within one hundred eighty days of the effective date of this arti-
50 cle, the improper payment estimate guidance group shall meet and, in
51 consultation with the state comptroller, prescribe guidelines for the
52 implementation of the provisions of this article. All agencies shall
53 cooperate with such group to assist it as necessary in the development
54 and promulgation of guidelines. The guidelines shall include, but not be
55 limited to:
S. 8122--A 3
1 a. the manner in which agencies shall review programs and activities,
2 and identify those which are susceptible to improper payments;
3 b. the manner in which agencies shall calculate statistically valid
4 estimates of the annual amount of improper payments in programs and
5 activities;
6 c. the manner in which agencies shall implement plans to reduce
7 improper payments; and
8 d. the manner in which agencies shall report estimates of the annual
9 amount of improper payments in programs and activities, and progress in
10 reducing them.
11 3. The improper payment estimate guidance group shall thereafter meet
12 at any time at the call of either the director of the budget or the
13 state comptroller; provided that such group shall meet no fewer than
14 once every four years to review the guidelines.
15 § 59. Application of article. The provisions of this article shall:
16 1. apply to the administration of programs and improper payments made
17 in state fiscal years commencing on or after April first, two thousand
18 eleven; and
19 2. require the inclusion of the estimates, reported pursuant to
20 section fifty-seven-a of this article, in the agency budget submissions
21 for state fiscal years commencing on or after April first, two thousand
22 twelve.
23 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
