Creation of a Joint Committee on State Mandates and required funding of state mandates

The bill states that any bill placing a statutory requirement on a local governmental unit must be referred at once to the committee and the bill may not be considered further until the committee submits a report or 30 days have lapsed.

If the committee's report concludes that the bill has a negative uncompensated fiscal effect on local governmental units, and the mandate is a wholly state-imposed mandate upon local governmental units, this bill states that the committee must offer an amendment to the bill appropriating funds to offset the cost of the mandate.

The bill defines "mandate" to exclude certain provisions and those that have minimal fiscal effect.

Additionally, the bill states that the legislature may not enact a bill that imposes future state-imposed mandates unless they receive a hearing before the committee or are funded. If an enacted mandate is not funded, either upon passage or in the future, the mandate may not be enforced until it is funded. The bill also states that a state agency may not promulgate a rule or take an action that imposes a mandate and that a state agency shall not take an action required by law if the action would impose a mandate, unless there is a sufficient amount to fund the mandate. Under this bill, affected local governments are reimbursed annually for the approximate costs attributable to state-imposed mandates.

The bill directs the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, by January 1, 2013, to identify all mandates for the committee, other than ones having a minimal fiscal effect. The committee is directed to submit legislation repealing all mandates to each house of the legislature.

The bill also requires the committee to review and evaluate existing mandates.

To carry out its duties, the committee may make investigations and hold hearings.