A bill that passed a state Senate committee this week would amend the current language in the Pennsylvania consolidated statutes to move auditing responsibility for authorities created under the Municipal Authorities Act from the Attorney General to the Auditor General, a move that makes such perfect sense one has to wonder why it has taken this long.
The current language of the Act states the Attorney General “… shall have the right to examine the books, accounts and records of any authority.” The proposed legislation would change the office to Auditor General, adds “and audit” to the language and would have the authority pays for any costs incurred from the audit. Existing language on annual reports that to be submitted to DCED and an annual audit by a certified public accountant would not be affected by the legislation.
Since the legislation affects only authorities created under the Municipal Authorities Act if the proposal would become law it would not change the role of Attorney General for authorities crated under special legislation, which would include the Sports and Exhibition Authority, which was an authority that the Allegheny County Controller wanted to audit a few years ago, but it would affect ALCOSAN and the Allegheny County Airport Authority.
