House Bill 1113
Summary & Key Concepts
During
the 2008 legislative session, the General Assembly passed
House Bill 1113 (HB 1113). House Bill 1113 establishes
that any person who uses resources or methods such as purchase
orders, government contracts or credit cards (P-Cards)
for personal benefit, will face civil and criminal penalties.
Common examples of purchasing methods at UGA include, but
are not limited to purchase orders, check requests, petty
cash accounts/advances, government contracts, credit cards,
charge cards or debit cards. This also includes the submission
of fraudulent requests for expense reimbursement. Any person,
including but not limited to a supervisor, who knowingly
assists another person in violating this law will be subject
to the same criminal charges and penalties. There is no
gray area under this new law, and thus, any misuse, including
inadvertent use (such as mistakenly using a P-Card for
a personal purchase) is a violation of law and must be
reported to the Board of Regents (BOR).
Any incidents of misuse and employee
malfeasance must be reported to the Chief Auditor’s Office at the BOR.
At UGA, this reporting requirement will be handled centrally
from the Controller’s Office to the BOR. In addition,
the State Attorney General’s Office will review all
cases of alleged employee malfeasance that have been reported
to the BOR. In cases of inadvertent use, UGA will:
provide the BOR with an explanation of what took place;
confirm that the employee self-reported the incident, if
appropriate;
confirm that the funds have been returned;
and provide an associated timeline of the incident.
The decision whether to prosecute a case rests with the State
Attorney General’s Office.
HB 1113 outlines criminal penalties as follows:
If the total amount of misuse does not exceed $500.00, a
person will be charged with a misdemeanor of high and aggravated
nature which shall be punishable by not more than 12 months
imprisonment and a fine not to exceed $5,000.00.
If the total amount of misuse exceeds $500.00, a person will
be charged with a felony which shall be punishable by not
less than one nor more than 20 years of imprisonment and
a fine not to exceed $50,000.00 or triple the amount of such
unlawful purchases, whichever is greater.
In either circumstance, a person will be subject to immediate
termination of state employment and shall owe restitution
to the state equal to the amount of such unlawful purchases,
plus interest to be assessed at a rate of 12 percent per
annum to be calculated from the date each unlawful purchase
was made.
Any person, including but not limited to a supervisor, who
knowingly assists another person in violating this law will
be subject to the same criminal charges and penalties outlined
above.
Any person who uses a travel advance received from public
funds for nongovernmental purposes or submits or approves,
knowingly or through willful and wanton neglect, a fraudulent
request to the state for reimbursement of expenses will be
subject to the same criminal charges and penalties outlined
above.
HB 1113 outlines a number of specific requirements with respect
to purchasing cards or P-Cards. P-Card misuse that may
result in civil and criminal penalties includes, but is
not limited to:
use
of a purchasing card for personal gain;
purchasing items on a card that are not authorized for purchase
by such employee;
purchasing items in violation of HB1113 (prohibited items
include items over $5,000.00, gift cards, alcoholic beverages,
tobacco products, personal items that are not job-related);
retaining for an employee’s personal use a rebate or
refund from a vendor, bank or other financial institution
resulting from a purchase or use of the purchasing card (for
example, certain vendors will issue rebate checks or merchandise
awards when customers accumulate points. Some vendors will
issue prizes that are personal use items such as luggage,
dishware, jewelry, etc.).
HB
1113 also establishes a number of requirements specific to
the P-Card program. For example, HB 1113 requires that:
P-Cards only be issued to employees whose job duties require
the use of a P-Card
Employees receiving a P-Card sign an ethical behavior agreement;
Transaction logs be maintained to show specific information
for each purchase;
Purchases be reviewed and approved by supervisory personnel;
Departments review not less than annually, all P-Cards issued
to employees and eliminate cards for employees with low usage;
Employers perform criminal background checks and credit checks
on persons hired for positions for which purchasing cards
are issued;
Purchases be accompanied by receipts and supporting documentation
and if they are not supported, the employee will be personally
responsible for the purchase;
An employee’s supervisor who knowingly intentionally,
willfully, wantonly, or recklessly allows or who consipires
with any employee who has a P-Card and violates the requirements
under HB 1113, is subject to termination of employment and
criminal prosecution.
You may also access the complete bill at: http://www.legis.ga.gov/legis/2007_08/fulltext/hb1113.htm
