Judges: W.A. DREW EDMONDSON, Attorney General of Oklahoma
Filed Date: 1/20/2003
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/6/2016
Dear Bond Advisor Joseph,
¶ 0 This office has received your request for an official Attorney General Opinion in which you ask, in effect, the following questions:
1. Does the Director of the Department of Central Services have any authority over where the Office of State Finance mandated cuts are made in the funds appropriated for the State Bond Advisor, or are such cuts the responsibility of the Oklahoma State Bond Advisor?
2. Does the Director of the Department of Central Services have the authority to furlough the Oklahoma State Bond Advisor or any of the Oklahoma State Bond Advisor's staff, or are budget revisions for the office the responsibility of the Oklahoma State Bond Advisor?
The Oklahoma State Bond Advisor shall be an independent position within the Office of Public Affairs. The Oklahoma State Bond Advisor may employ the necessary staff to carry out the duties of the Bond Advisor and the duties of the [Executive and Legislative Bond Oversight] Commissions, with approval of the Commissions.
1990 Okla. Sess. Laws ch.
¶ 4 The State Bond Advisor is referred to only three times in statutes pertaining to the Department of Central Services:
K. 4. B. The Executive Bond Oversight Commission and the Legislative Bond Oversight Commission shall have the authority to extend the term of a lease-purchase agreement beyond three (3) years for personal property and ten (10) years for real property if the State Purchasing Director determines that the useful life of the property exceeds the terms and the Oklahoma State Bond Advisor recommends the extension as being in the best interests of this state.
5. . . . The State Purchasing Director shall consult with the Oklahoma State Bond Advisor on the preparation, evaluation, and negotiation of such financing. . . .
. . . .
M. 1. Before reoffering or remarketing an obligation, a state agency shall obtain written approval from the Oklahoma State Bond Advisor. Should a remarketing of a lease-purchase agreement be proposed that includes the remarketing of securities or obligations to more than a single investor, any disclosure language prepared in connection with such remarketing that describes the state's liability under the lease-purchase agreement shall be approved in advance, in writing, by the Oklahoma State Bond Advisor.
74 O.S. 2001, § 85.4[
¶ 5 Each reference relates only to the duties of the Oklahoma Bond Advisor, not to the relationship between the Department of Central Services and the Oklahoma Bond Advisor. In addition to the requirements under the Act, the State Bond Advisor has other statutory duties and obligations.3
(b) The Office of Public Affairs also administratively supports the State Bond Advisor, the Capitol-Medical Center Improvement and Zoning Commission, the Public Employees Relations Board, the Santa Claus Commission, the Oklahoma Capitol Improvement Authority, and the State Capitol Preservation Commission.
Id. (emphasis added).
¶ 8 Many Oklahoma Statutes provide for administrative support within agencies.4 Specific statutory language includes:
Administrative support for the Interagency Council for Services to Mentally Ill Homeless Persons, including but not limited to personnel necessary to ensure the proper performance of the duties and responsibilities of the Council, shall be provided by the Department of Human Services.
43A O.S. 2001, § 3-250[
The State Department of Health shall provide administrative support, including, but not limited to, office space, equipment, and furnishings, for the [Oklahoma Professional Boxing] Commission and shall manage the Commission's funds. Persons employed by the Commission shall serve at the direction and pleasure of the Commission but shall, in all other matters relating to employment, be unclassified employees of the State Department of Health.
3A O.S. 2001, § 605[
The State Department of Health shall provide all necessary administrative support, including, but not limited to, office space, equipment, furnishings, and legal staff support for the Board and may manage the Board's funds, subject to Board approval. . . . Employees shall be under the general direction of the Construction Industries Administrator and the Construction Industries Board, but in all other respects shall be employees of the Department of Health.
59 O.S. Supp. 2002, § 1000.4[
The [Post-secondary Oversight] Council shall have no employees and shall receive no funds. Clerical assistance, meeting space, and other administrative support shall be provided by the State Regents and the State Board of Career and Technology Education upon request of the Council or any of its officers.
70 O.S. 2001, § 5001[
¶ 9 None of these expanded statutory descriptions of "administrative support" indicate being dependent, subject to control by others, or subordinate. Instead, providing goods and services is described. Thus, the Director of the Department of Central Services does not have authority over the State Bond Advisor.
There is hereby re-created in the State Treasury a revolving fund for the Department of Central Services, to be designated the "Bond Oversight Revolving Fund". The fund shall be a continuing fund, not subject to fiscal year limitations, and shall consist of fees collected by the Executive Bond Oversight Commission and the Legislative Bond Oversight Commission as authorized by Section 695.8 of Title 62 of the Oklahoma Statutes and any other monies provided for by law. All monies accruing to the credit of said fund are hereby appropriated and may be budgeted and expended by the Department of Central Services for expenses related to the Oklahoma Bond Oversight and Reform Act.
62 O.S. 2001, § 695.8a (emphasis added). These funds provide administrative support for the State Bond Advisor by the Department of Central Services.
¶ 11 This fund is not just general revenue money, subject to reductions imposed by the Office of State Finance due to revenue shortfalls. The function of the Department of Central Services with regard to this account is accounting in nature and nothing in the statutes authorizes the Department of Central Services to regulate how the money in the revolving fund may be spent.
¶ 12 It is, therefore, the official Opinion of the Attorney General that:1. The Director of the Department of Central Services has no authority to impose specific budget cuts on funds appropriated for the Oklahoma State Bond Advisor. Decisions regarding budget cuts are the responsibility of the Oklahoma State Bond Advisor. 62 O.S. 2001, § 695.7(B).
2. The Director of the Department of Central Services has no authority to impose furloughs on the Oklahoma State Bond Advisor or any member of the Oklahoma State Bond Advisor's staff. Decisions as to whether furloughs will be used to implement Office of State Finance mandated budget cuts are the responsibility of the Oklahoma State Bond Advisor. 62 O.S. 2001, § 695.7(B).
W.A. DREW EDMONDSON Attorney General of Oklahoma
DAVID L. KINNEY Assistant Attorney General