50-1205.

Committee; duties.

The committee shall:

(1) Adopt, by majority vote, procedures consistent with the Legislative Performance Audit Act to govern the business of the committee and the conduct of performance audits;

(2) Ensure that performance audits undertaken by the office are not undertaken based on or influenced by special or partisan interests;

(3) Review performance audit requests and select, by majority vote, agencies or agency programs for performance audit;

(4) Review, amend, if necessary, and approve a scope statement and an audit plan for each performance audit;

(5) Respond to inquiries regarding performance audits;

(6) Inspect or approve the inspection of the premises, or any parts thereof, of any agency or any property owned, leased, or operated by an agency as frequently as is necessary in the opinion of the committee to carry out a performance audit or preaudit inquiry;

(7) Inspect and examine, or approve the inspection and examination of, the records and documents of any agency as a part of a performance audit or preaudit inquiry;

(8) At the request of the Legislative Auditor, issue subpoenas, enforceable by action in an appropriate court, to compel any person to appear, give sworn testimony, or produce documentary or other evidence deemed relevant to a performance audit as provided in section 50-1216;

(9) Review completed reports prepared by the office, together with comments from the evaluated agency, and adopt recommendations and incorporate them into an audit report;

(10) Release audit reports to the public and distribute them electronically to the Clerk of the Legislature with or without benefit of a public hearing;

(11) Hold public hearings, at the committee's discretion, for the purpose of receiving testimony prior to issuance of audit reports;

(12) Establish a system to ascertain and monitor an agency's implementation of the recommendations contained in audit reports and compliance with any statutory changes resulting from the recommendations;

(13) Issue an annual report each September, to be prepared by the Legislative Auditor and approved by the committee, summarizing recommendations made pursuant to audit reports during the previous fiscal year and the status of implementation of those recommendations;

(14) Consult with the Director of Legislative Oversight and the Legislative Auditor regarding the staffing and budgetary needs of the office;

(15) Approve or reject, within the budgetary limits of the office, contracts to retain consultants to assist with performance audits requiring specialized knowledge or expertise. Requests for consultant contracts shall be approved by the Legislative Auditor and presented to the committee by the Legislative Auditor. A majority vote shall be required to approve consultant contract requests. For purposes of section 50-1213, subsection (11) of section 77-2711, and subsections (10) through (13) of section 77-27,119, any consultant retained to assist with a performance audit or preaudit inquiry shall be considered an employee of the office during the course of the contract; and

(16) At its discretion, and with the agreement of the Auditor of Public Accounts, conduct joint fiscal or performance audits with the Auditor of Public Accounts. The details of any joint audit shall be agreed upon in writing by the committee and the Auditor of Public Accounts.