Another Bill Would Amend Local Government Wage Increase Transparency Act

Another Bill Would Amend Local Government Wage Increase Transparency Act

  Thursday, January 26, 2017    Julie Tappendorf

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Over the past week,  we have been reporting on bills that could affect local governments.  Today, we have yet another bill regarding wage and fee transparency. 

House Bill 728 proposes to amend the Local Government Wage Increase Transparency Act to require attorneys with two or more local government clients to perform an annual audit of the following: 

1. Fees and charges billed to, and paid by, each unit of local government represented by the attorney;
2. Referral fees paid by the attorney to a person or business for the referral of a local government client to the attorney; and
3. Referral fees paid to the attorney for referring a unit of local government to another attorney.

The bill also requires the attorney to file copies of the completed audits with the State Treasurer and the unit of local government. The bill does not specify with which local government the report must be filed or whether reports must be filed with all of the attorney's local government clients. The bill also provides that the reports are releasable under FOIA and must be retained under the Local Records Act. 

We will continue to monitor the bill’s progress and report on its status.

Post Authored by Erin Baker, Ancel Glink