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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2017 - 2018
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 13, 2017 02:49 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Ryan P. Aument |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Independent Office of Inspector General |
| I am writing to invite you to cosponsor legislation I will be reintroducing in the near future that will provide for the statutory creation of an independent Office of Inspector General. The Pennsylvania Office of Inspector General was created in 1987 by Executive Order 1987-7 under then Governor Casey. The mission of this important office is to prevent, investigate, and eradicate fraud, waste, abuse, and misconduct in the programs, operations, and contracting of executive agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction. Currently, the Inspector General is a cabinet-level official who is appointed by, and reports to, the Governor. Pennsylvania is among a small minority of states that does not have a separate statute providing for the appointment, term and duties of the Inspector General. Currently, the office only exists if the Governor wishes it to continue by Executive Order. My legislation would create, by law, this important post and provide that the Inspector General be nominated by the Governor and confirmed by two-thirds of the Senate. Under my bill, the Inspector General would serve a term of 6 years and could serve no more than 2 terms. My goal is to create this office in a manner that will allow our Inspector General to work independently from the influence of any one Governor, who now can unilaterally direct the detection of waste, fraud and abuse in state government. The important work of preventing, investigating and eradicating fraud, waste, abuse, and misconduct in programs, operations and contracting demands independence. My legislation will include specific powers and duties for the Inspector General’s office, most of which are consistent with the current powers and duties of this office. My objective is to empower the Inspector General to make sure that our Commonwealth agencies are free of what we all agree is unacceptable – waste, fraud, abuse and misconduct. Last session, the House version of the proposal, House Bill 1618, was passed by the General Assembly but was, unfortunately, vetoed by Governor Wolf. This proposal was introduced as Senate Bill 1025 of the 2015-2016 session and was co-sponsored by: Scarnati, Argall, Scavello, Gordner, Yudichak, Rafferty, Vulakovich, Vance, Mensch, Ward, Browne, Stefano, and Vogel. Please join me in supporting this good government legislation that will continue to demonstrate to the people of Pennsylvania that the General Assembly takes seriously the proper use of tax dollars. |
Introduced as SB527