[Title]

Committee: Oversight and Investigations

Complete to 4-12-10

A SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILLS 6013-6015 AS INTRODUCED 3-25-10

House Bill 6013 would create a Legislative Administrative Agency to consolidate the following services now separately provided within the House of Representatives, the State Senate, and the Legislative Service Bureau: business office, finance, human resources, facilities, information technology, security, printing, duplicating, and post office services.

The new agency would be headed by a director jointly appointed by the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader of the Senate.

The consolidation would not include the session staffs or clerks of the House or Senate, and would not include the bill, rule, and resolution drafting, research, law compilation and indexing, and committee assistance functions of the Legislative Service Bureau.

House Bill 6014 would make a complementary technical amendment to the Management and Budget Act (MCL 18.442). House Bill 6015 would make a complementary technical amendment to the Administrative Procedures Act (MCL 24.235).

House Bill 6013 is an amendment to the Legislative Council Act (MCL 4.1102 et al.). Under the bill, the director of the House Business Office would create, develop, and implement a business plan to consolidate and reorganize all legislative administrative functions into the Legislative Administrative Agency by January 1, 2011. The plan would outline and describe the duties, responsibilities, authority, powers, functions, personnel, equipment, and budgetary resources of the new agency. The plan also would have to describe how redundancies are to be eliminated and how efficiencies are to be increased. The plan would have to contain a timetable for the consolidation and reorganization.

Once the consolidation and reorganization was completed, the director of the new agency would provide the House Government Operations Committee and the Senate Government Operations Committee with a report on the total savings achieved, the reduction in employees, if any, and the current status of administrative services every three months for 24 months following the reorganization.

Repealers. The bill would repeal three sections of the act: one describing the duties of the administrator of the Legislative Council (MCL 4.1104a); one requiring the maintenance of a legislative reference library (MCL 4.1107); and one requiring the bill analyses of the House Fiscal Agency to be published on the Internet (MCL 4.1204g)

LSB Provisions. The bill also would amend the act to update the provision that lists the duties of the Legislative Service Bureau. It would update the duties of LSB by adding, (1) creating and maintaining a computer database; (2) providing research to members of the Legislature; (3) providing technical and other assistance to legislative committees; and (4) providing staff to assist the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules.

FISCAL IMPACT:

The amount of any savings realized by the state as a result of consolidating and reorganizing all legislative administrative functions and services is indeterminate. Savings would depend on how the new Legislative Administrative Agency was structured. Specifically, the amount of any savings realized under the bill would depend, to a large extent, on the staffing level of the new agency relative to current staffing levels.

Legislative Analyst: Chris Couch

Fiscal Analyst: Robin Risko

■ This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.