BILL ANALYSIS

Senate Research Center	S.B. 987
	By: Kolkhorst
	Finance
	5/29/2023
	Enrolled

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

In 2005, the 79th Legislature passed a law requiring the Comptroller of Public Accounts (comptroller), on a biennial basis, to contract for the audit and recovery of certain state agency overpayments.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) enacted in 2011 contained a provision requiring states to establish a recovery audit contractor (RAC) program for Medicaid providers, which eliminated these providers from consideration in the statewide recovery audit program. This drastically decreased the number of payments subject to the audit and made it difficult for the comptroller to attract vendors to carry out the program. In 2019, the 86th Legislature passed S.B. 1571, which decreased the total amount of biennial expenditures that made an agency subject to a recovery audit. The bill also provided the comptroller with the authority to determine when to enter these engagements, rather than requiring the comptroller to contract with a vendor every two years to carry out a recovery audit.

Although the changes from the 86th Legislature were helpful, the PPACA provision also effectively reduced the statewide vendor recovery audit to a single phase with one report by the consultant. Conforming changes are needed in Section 2115.005 of the Government Code, which sets out reporting requirements related to the statewide recovery audit program, to align the current statewide recovery audit program with statute. 

Section 2115.005(a) and (b), Government Code, currently requires the comptroller to forward the consultant's reports to leadership within 15 days of receipt. These same reports are incorporated into a summary report that the comptroller must submit to leadership per Section 2115.005(c), resulting in unnecessary reporting redundancies. 

Section 2115.005(c), Government Code, currently requires the comptroller to issue a report to leadership even if no auditing activity has occurred, which is not an effective use of staff resources and produces a report that is of little use to leadership.

S.B. 987 will eliminate the requirement to forward the consultant's reports to the oversight agencies. Instead, the comptroller's office will summarize all audit activity in one comprehensive report sent to leadership by February 1 of each year following the year a recovery audit is completed.

Key Provisions

• Amends Section 2115.005, Government Code, to eliminate the requirement to forward the consultant's reports to the oversight agencies. Instead, the comptroller's office will summarize all audit activity in one comprehensive report sent to leadership by February 1 of each year following the year a recovery audit is completed.

Committee Substitute Changes

• First, the committee substitute to S.B. 987 makes technical corrections requested by the comptroller's office.
• Second, C.S.S.B. 987 repeals the comptroller's duties related to data collection and reporting in the Indigent Health Care Program and transfers them to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which is responsible for analyzing the data and administering the program.
• Removing the comptroller will enable HHSC to receive this data directly from counties, so that it may analyze the data and administer the program.

S.B. 987 amends current law relating to the reporting of certain information regarding the payment of state money to certain vendors and counties.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Section 2115.005, Government Code, as follows:

Sec. 2115.005. New heading: ANNUAL REPORT BY COMPTROLLER. (a) Requires the Comptroller of Public Accounts of the State of Texas (comptroller), subject to Subsection (b), not later than February 1 of each year, to issue to the legislature, governor, Office of the State Auditor (SAO), and Legislative Budget Board (LBB) a report summarizing the activities conducted by a consultant pursuant to a recovery audit under Chapter 2115 (Recovery of Certain State Agency Overpayments) during the preceding state fiscal year, rather than during the state fiscal biennium ending August 31 of the previous year. Deletes existing text requiring the comptroller to provide copies, including electronic form copies, of any reports received from a consultant contracting under Section 2115.002 (Contract Consultants for Recovery Audits for Certain Overpayments) to the governor, SAO, and LBB. Makes nonsubstantive changes.

(b) Provides that the comptroller is required to issue a report under Subsection (a) only if a recovery audit was completed under this chapter during the preceding state fiscal year. Deletes existing text requiring the comptroller to provide the copies required by Subsection (a) not later than the 15th day after the date the comptroller receives the consultant's report.

SECTION 2. Amends Section 61.040, Health and Safety Code, as follows:

Sec. 61.040 TAX INFORMATION. (a) Authorizes the Department of State Health Services (DSHS), for the purpose of determining eligibility for state assistance under Chapter 61 (Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act), to require a county to provide the following information for the relevant period:

(1) the taxable value of property taxable by the county;

(2) the county's applicable general revenue tax levy; and

(3) the amount of sales and use tax revenue received by the county.

(b) Requires DSHS to prescribe the manner in which a county is required to provide the information described by Subsection (a).

Deletes existing text requiring the comptroller to give DSHS information relating to the taxable value of property taxable by each county, each county's applicable general revenue tax levy for the relevant period, and the amount of sales and use tax revenue received by each county for the relevant period.

SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 2023.