Senator Hisey Newsletter
February 3, 2022
| SMART Act Hearings Wrap Up February 3rd, 2022 Straight From The Senate |
| It is appropriate that the same week we wrap up our SMART Act hearings I have a committee hearing on my bill to add “The Office of Saving People Money on Health Care” to that list. In this case, SMART stands for State Measurement for Accountable Responsive and Transparent Government Act. These hearings happen in joint committee meetings with the appropriate Senate and House committees – Colorado Department of Transportation presenting to the Joint Transportation Committee, the Treasurer’s Office presenting to the Joint Finance Committee etcetera. The bill that created the SMART Act outlines what information needs to be presented but the hearing starts out with a report from the Audit Committee on any audits conducted the preceding year, including deficiencies and whether those have been corrected. Next comes a report from the Joint Budget Committee on the agency’s budget request and then the agency itself gets the mic to give their report. To some degree, these reports sound like the annual Christmas letter from your old college friend that sounds suspiciously like a brag sheet. You know the one, little Johnny is growing up and made varsity on the football team as a freshman and his older sister is entertaining acceptance letters from three Ivy League schools. They might mention that Dad lost his job due to COVID cutbacks but has accepted a position with another company with lots of potential for advancement. |
Smart act reports tend to follow that format, however, on the plus side, this is a legislator’s chance to ask any question they like. Could be in response to constituent interaction with the agency, a media report, or any lingering question that they are still waiting for a satisfactory response.
So, I would like to add “The Office of Saving People Money on Health Care” to the list of agencies that basically have to justify their existence. Created in 2019 by executive order of the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor is the Executive Director, which was worth a $30,000 raise three weeks into the job. Other than that, all I can find is the office is administering a couple of bills the legislature passed. Looking further into the state budget as opposed to the agency website I can’t find how many employees they have, what the budget might be or any other details.
Staff in the budget office is working on ferreting out that information. They said it would take a few days. That would be a combination of their regular workload which is very high right now and the fact those details will have to be mined from the larger Governor’s budget.
I really hope to get this bill out of committee, if we can get to “Transparent” maybe everything else will be fine.