Requires the NYS health foundation and state insurance fund to file annual audited financial statements with the office of the state comptroller

1 Co-sponsor

• Antoine M. Thompson

Title of bill

An act to amend the insurance law and the workers' compensation law, in relation to requiring the New York state health foundation and the state insurance fund to file annual audited financial statements with the office of the state comptroller

Purpose

Requires the New York State Health Foundation and the State Insurance Fund to file annual audited financial statements with the Office of the State Comptroller.

Summary of provisions

Section 1 amends paragraph 9 of subsection (k) of section 7317 of the insurance law to require the state health foundation to annually file financial statements audited by a certified public accountant with the office of the state comptroller within 150 days from the end of each fiscal year.

Section 2 amends section 99 of the workers' compensation law to require the state insurance fund to annually file with the office of the state comptroller, on or before June fifteenth, financial statements audited by an independent auditor.

Section 3 provides for an effective date of the first of January next succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.

Background and justification

The Bureau of Financial Reporting (BFR) has concluded that the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) considers the State Insurance Fund (SIF) and the New York State Health Foundation (Health Foundation) component units of the State of New York reporting entity and requires their audited financial information to be discretely presented in the New York State Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). These entities are not required by statute to file audited financial reports with the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC). This bill proposes to amend existing state laws to require that these entities file annual audited financial statements with OSC.

Pursuant to section 8 of the state finance law, OSC must complete its annual financial report and distribute it within 120 days of the state's March 31 fiscal year end. In 2007 and 2008, the SIF and the Health Foundation were late in making financial reports available to

OSC for inclusion in the CAFR. Requiring the SIF and Health Foundation to meet a statutory delivery date will ensure the timely completion and high quality of the CAFR.