§ 35-3-24 - Control of state spending.
SECTION 35-3-24
§ 35-3-24 Control of state spending.– (a) All department and agency heads and their employees are responsible forensuring that financial obligations and expenditures for which they haveresponsibility do not exceed amounts appropriated and are spent in accordancewith state laws.
(b) Persons with the authority to obligate the statecontractually for goods and services shall be designated in writing bydepartment and agency heads.
(c) In the event of an obligation, encumbrance, orexpenditure in excess of amounts appropriated, the department or agency headwith oversight responsibility shall make a written determination of the amountand the cause of the overobligation or overexpenditure, the person(s)responsible, and corrective actions taken to prevent reoccurrence. The plan ofcorrective actions contained within the report shall detail an appropriate planto include, but not limited to, such issues as the implementation of waitinglists, pro-rata reduction in payments and changes in eligibility criteria asmethods to address the shortfall. The report will be filed within thirty (30)days of the discovery of the overobligation or overexpenditure with the budgetofficer, the controller, the auditor general, and the chairpersons of the houseand senate finance committees.
(d) A state employee who has knowingly and willinglyencumbered, obligated, or authorized the expenditure of state funds in excessof amounts appropriated for those purposes or entered into contracts withoutproper authorization may be placed on disciplinary suspension without pay forup to thirty (30) days in accordance with § 36-4-36.
(e) A state employee who knowingly, willfully, and repeatedlyauthorizes actions resulting in encumbrances or spending of state funds inexcess of amounts appropriated may be fined up to one thousand dollars ($1,000)and/or terminated from employment.