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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.C.R. NO.            
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     HOUSE CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION
   REQUESTING THE AUDITOR TO CONDUCT A REVIEW OF THE BUDGET
   PROCESS AND TO RECOMMEND IMPROVEMENTS THERETO.



 1        WHEREAS, the budget process is a long and complicated one
 2   that begins with an administrative or legislative proposal that
 3   is adopted as a legislative appropriation and finally allocated
 4   by the Administration; and
 5   
 6        WHEREAS, the process is sometimes fraught with delays
 7   between the time funds are appropriated by the Legislature and
 8   the actual allocation of those funds by the Administration; and
 9   
10        WHEREAS, the law sometimes requires appropriated funds to
11   be channeled through one or more administrative agencies before
12   an actual allocation of those funds is made; and
13   
14        WHEREAS, there are reports of appropriated funds not
15   allocated for six months or more after the funds were
16   appropriated; and
17   
18        WHEREAS, recipients of appropriations are usually in
19   desperate need of funds, especially in tight fiscal times where
20   money is scarce and austerity is common place; and
21   
22        WHEREAS, the allocation of funds that are necessarily
23   delayed by law or unnecessarily by bureaucratic red tape is the
24   same as funds never appropriated; and
25   
26        WHEREAS, the Auditor is not only charged with but has
27   successfully reviewed various administrative agencies and
28   processes in the past; and
29   
30        WHEREAS, a thorough review of the budget process,
31   especially after an appropriation is made, is warranted to
32   expedite the delivery of funds to those in need of such funds;
33   now, therefore,
34   
35        BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
36   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session
37   of 1999, the Senate concurring, that the Auditor is requested

 
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                                  H.C.R. NO.            
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1   to conduct a thorough review of the budget process, especially
 2   with respect to delays in the allocation of funds after an
 3   appropriation is made; and
 4   
 5        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor also identify
 6   possible statutory or bureaucratic logjams or roadblocks in the
 7   budget process that results in delays in allocation; and
 8   
 9        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Auditor report its
10   findings and recommendations to the Legislature twenty days
11   before the convening of the Regular Session of 2000; and
12   
13        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
14   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Auditor, the
15   Director of Budget and Finance, and the Governor.
16 
17 
18 
19                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________