MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2006 Regular Session
To: Appropriations
By: Senator(s) Huggins
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 7-7-213, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THE STATE AUDITOR TO CHARGE THE ACTUAL COST OF CERTAIN AUDITS TO STATE AND LOCAL ENTITIES; TO AMEND SECTION 27-103-129, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE STATE AGENCIES THAT INTEND TO INCREASE FEES CHARGED TO OTHER STATE AGENCIES TO SUBMIT THEIR PROPOSED FEES TO THE LEGISLATIVE BUDGET OFFICE, INCLUDING THE METHODS FOR DETERMINING THE FEE AND THE COST OF PROVIDING THE SERVICE FOR WHICH THE FEE WILL BE CHARGED AND TO PROHIBIT THE FEE FROM BECOMING EFFECTIVE UNTIL THE FOLLOWING FISCAL YEAR; TO AMEND SECTION 29-5-6, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT THE OFFICE OF GENERAL SERVICES SHALL CHARGE RENTS TO STATE AGENCIES BASED ON THE COST OF PROVIDING OFFICE SPACE AND SERVICE TO EACH AGENCY; TO AMEND SECTION 25-59-13, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT THE DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY MAY CHARGE REASONABLE FEES FOR RECORDS STORAGE AND OTHER SERVICES TO STATE AGENCIES USING THE STATE RECORDS CENTER, PROVIDED THAT THE FEES DO NOT EXCEED THE ACTUAL COST OF PROVIDING THE SERVICE; TO AMEND SECTION 37-141-5, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF STATE INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING TO CHARGE REASONABLE FEES TO ANY STATE AGENCY OR OTHER ENTITY THAT OCCUPIES SPACE FOR WHICH THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF STATE INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING IS RESPONSIBLE FOR PROVIDING ANY SERVICE; TO AMEND SECTION 65-1-8, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO CHARGE REASONABLE FEES NOT TO EXCEED COST TO ANY STATE AGENCY OR THE DIVISION OF STATE AID ROAD CONSTRUCTION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, FOR ANY SOIL TESTING SERVICE OR DUPLICATION SERVICES RENDERED; TO AMEND SECTION 71-5-143, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE THE DEPARTMENT OF EMPLOYMENT SECURITY TO PROVIDE REPORTS TO OTHER STATE AGENCIES AND TO RECOUP THE COSTS OF PRODUCING SUCH REPORTS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 7-7-213, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
7-7-213. (1) The costs of audits and other services required by Sections 7-7-201 through 7-7-215, except for those audits and services authorized by Section 7-7-211(k) which shall be funded by appropriations made by the Legislature from such funds as it deems appropriate, shall be paid from a special fund hereby created in the State Treasury, to be known as the State Department of Audit Fund, into which will be paid each year the amounts received for performing audits required by law. Except as provided in Section 7-7-211(d) and any municipality required under this chapter to be audited by the State Auditor, the amounts to be charged for performing audits and other services shall be the actual cost * * * per auditor day. In the event of failure by any unit of government to pay the charges authorized herein, the Department of Audit shall notify the State Fiscal Officer, and upon a determination that the charges are substantially correct, the State Fiscal Officer shall notify the defaulting unit of his determination. If payment is not made within thirty (30) days after such notification, the State Fiscal Officer shall notify the State Treasurer and Department of Public Accounts that no further warrants are to be issued to the defaulting unit until the deficiency is paid.
The cost of any service by the department not required of it under the provisions of the cited sections but made necessary by the willful fault or negligence of an officer or employee of any public office of the state shall be recovered (i) from such officer or employee and/or surety on official bond thereof and/or (ii) from the individual, partnership, corporation or association involved, in the same manner and under the same terms, when necessary, as provided the department for recovering public funds in Section 7-7-211.
The State Auditor shall deliver a copy of any audit of the fiscal and financial affairs of a county to the chancery clerk of such county and shall deliver a notice stating that a copy of such audit is on file in the chancery clerk's office to some newspaper published in the county to be published. If no newspaper is published in the county, a copy of such notice shall be delivered to a newspaper having a general circulation therein.
(2) The charges for audits provided for in subsection (1) of this section shall also apply to inventory audits conducted by authority of Section 29-9-13.
SECTION 2. Section 27-103-129, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
27-103-129. (1) To enable the Legislative Budget Office to prepare such budget, it shall have full and plenary power and authority to require all general-fund and special-fund agencies and the Mississippi Department of Transportation and the Division of State Aid Road Construction of the Mississippi Department of Transportation to file a budget request with such information and in such form and in such detail as it may deem necessary and advisable, and it shall have the further power and authority to reduce or eliminate any item or items of requested appropriation by any state agency in the Legislative Budget Office's recommended budget to the Legislature. However, where any item of requested appropriation shall be so reduced or eliminated, the head of the agency involved shall have the right to appear before the appropriate legislative committee to urge a revision of the budget to restore the item reduced or eliminated. Beginning with the 1996 fiscal year, the budget requests shall include a definition of the mission of the agency, a description of the duties and responsibilities of the agency, financial data relative to the various programs operated by the agency and performance measures associated with each program of the agency. The performance measures to be contained within the agency budget request shall be developed by cooperative efforts of the Legislative Budget Office, the Department of Finance and Administration and the agency itself and shall be approved jointly by the Legislative Budget Office and the Department of Finance and Administration prior to inclusion within the agency budget request. Beginning with the 1996 fiscal year, the budget requests shall also include in an addendum format a five-year strategic plan for the agency which shall include, but not be limited to, the following items of information: (a) a comprehensive mission statement, (b) performance effectiveness objectives for each program of the agency for each of the five (5) years covered by the plan, (c) a description of significant external factors which may affect the projected levels of performance, (d) a description of the agency's internal management system utilized to evaluate its performance achievements in relationship to the targeted performance levels, (e) an evaluation by the agency of the agency's performance achievements in relationship to the targeted performance levels for the two (2) preceding fiscal years for which accounting records have been finalized.
(2) As part of the budget request, all general fund and special fund agencies and the Mississippi Department of Transportation and the Division of State Aid Road Construction of the Mississippi Department of Transportation shall submit to the Legislative Budget Office any proposed increases of any fee or charge for services or rent, or other cost recapture that such entities propose charging to any other state general fund, special fund or other state agency. Such proposed fee shall be accompanied by a needs assessment that details why the fee should be imposed, the legal authority for imposing the fee, and a cost analysis explaining through a sound methodology that the fee is intended to recapture the costs of providing services, building space, or some other benefit to another agency of state government.
(3) Any such fee described in subsection (2) of this section shall not become effective until the fiscal year following beginning on July 1 following the submission of the fee proposal to the Legislative Budget Office.
SECTION 3. Section 29-5-6, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
29-5-6. All monies expended by the Bureau of Capitol Facilities shall be drawn out of the State Treasury only upon the warrant of the Department of Finance and Administration, which shall issue the same only where a specific itemized account shall have been rendered it, which account shall be approved in writing by the Director of the Bureau of Capitol Facilities.
Any department, agency or political subdivision of the government of the state, or any organization occupying offices in any of the office buildings under the jurisdiction or control of the Office of General Services shall pay as directed by the office into the fund created in Section 27-104-107(7), a rent to be fixed by the office that shall be based on the actual cost of providing office space and utilities to the agency, department or political subdivision of the state. The Veterans Affairs Board shall pay rent for veterans organizations and veterans auxiliary organizations presently using space in the property described, set apart, and exclusively dedicated as a perpetual memorial to the veterans of World War I, 1914-1918, by Chapter 297, Laws of 1934, if it becomes necessary for such rent to be paid.
In the event that the sums are not paid as directed by the Office of General Services, the director of the office may issue a requisition for a warrant to draw the amount as may be due, plus a penalty of ten percent (10%) of the amount, from any fund appropriated for the use of the agency which has failed to pay rental as agreed.
SECTION 4. Section 25-59-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
25-59-13. The transfer of records to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History shall be in accordance with the following:
(a) Agencies and appointed or elected officials are hereby authorized and empowered to turn over to the department any records no longer in current official use and the department is authorized, after conducting appropriate archival appraisal, to accept such records and to provide for their administration and preservation.
(b) All records of state agencies transferred to the department may be held in the records center or placed directly in the Mississippi State Archives as deemed appropriate.
(c) Title to any record placed in the records center shall remain in the agency transferring such records to the department.
(d) Title to any record transferred to the Mississippi State Archives shall be vested in the department.
(e) The department may make certified copies under seal of any records transferred to it upon the application of any person and said certificates signed by the director shall have the same force and effect as if made by the agency from which the records were received.
(f) The department may prescribe and charge reasonable fees for said services, which shall not exceed the actual cost of providing records storage or any other service rendered by the department.
SECTION 5. Section 37-141-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
37-141-5. (1) The main office building of the University Research Center and the Department of Economic Development in the City of Jackson shall be known and designated as the Paul B. Johnson, Jr. Building. The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning and the Governor's Office of General Services shall coordinate and cooperate to effect the relocation of the Department of Economic Development to the Paul B. Johnson, Jr. Building and any other related agency relocations necessary to accomplish the requirement of this section if such relocation is feasible. If such relocation of the Department of Economic Development to the Paul B. Johnson, Jr. Building is not feasible because of space limitations, the Governor's Office of General Services shall coordinate the relocation of such department to some other location and shall, if possible, secure the amount of space necessary to also place the University Research Center in the same location with the department.
The Office of General Services shall provide proper signs to be placed on the building in accordance with this section.
(2) The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning shall be authorized to charge state agencies and other entities that occupy portions of the center for utilities, maintenance and security. Such charges shall be based on the board's cost of providing services to each entity or agency. For purposes of this subsection, the University Research Center, or "center", includes the Paul B. Johnson, Jr. Building, the Edsel E. Thrash Universities Center and the ETV Building.
SECTION 6. Section 65-1-8, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
65-1-8. (1) The Mississippi Transportation Commission shall have the following general powers, duties and responsibilities:
(a) To coordinate and develop a comprehensive, balanced transportation policy for the State of Mississippi;
(b) To promote the coordinated and efficient use of all available and future modes of transportation;
(c) To make recommendations to the Legislature regarding alterations or modifications in any existing transportation policies;
(d) To study means of encouraging travel and transportation of goods by the combination of motor vehicle and other modes of transportation;
(e) To take such actions as are necessary and proper to discharge its duties pursuant to the provisions of Laws, 1992, Chapter 496, and any other provision of law;
(f) To receive and provide for the expenditure of any funds made available to it by the Legislature, the federal government or any other source.
(2) In addition to the general powers, duties and responsibilities listed in subsection (1) of this section, the Mississippi Transportation Commission shall have the following specific powers:
(a) To make rules and regulations whereby the Transportation Department shall change or relocate any and all highways herein or hereafter fixed as constituting a part of the state highway system, as may be deemed necessary or economical in the construction or maintenance thereof; to acquire by gift, purchase, condemnation or otherwise, land or other property whatsoever that may be necessary for a state highway system as herein provided, with full consideration to be given to the stimulation of local public and private investment when acquiring such property in the vicinity of Mississippi towns, cities and population centers;
(b) To enforce by mandamus, or other proper legal remedies, all legal rights or rights of action of the Mississippi Transportation Commission with other public bodies, corporations or persons;
(c) To make and publish rules, regulations and ordinances for the control of and the policing of the traffic on the state highways, and to prevent their abuse by any or all persons, natural or artificial, by trucks, tractors, trailers or any other heavy or destructive vehicles or machines, or by any other means whatsoever, by establishing weights of loads or of vehicles, types of tires, width of tire surfaces, length and width of vehicles, with reasonable variations to meet approximate weather conditions, and all other proper police and protective regulations, and to provide ample means for the enforcement of same. The violation of any of the rules, regulations or ordinances so prescribed by the commission shall constitute a misdemeanor. No rule, regulation or ordinance shall be made that conflicts with any statute now in force or which may hereafter be enacted, or with any ordinance of municipalities. A monthly publication giving general information to the boards of supervisors, employees and the public may be issued under such rules and regulations as the commission may determine;
(d) To give suitable numbers to highways and to change the number of any highway that shall become a part of the state highway system. However, nothing herein shall authorize the number of any highway to be changed so as to conflict with any designation thereof as a U.S. numbered highway. Where, by a specific act of the Legislature, the commission has been directed to give a certain number to a highway, the commission shall not have the authority to change such number;
(e) (i) To make proper and reasonable rules, regulations, and ordinances for the placing, erection, removal or relocation of telephone, telegraph or other poles, signboards, fences, gas, water, sewerage, oil or other pipelines, and other obstructions that may, in the opinion of the commission, contribute to the hazards upon any of the state highways, or in any way interfere with the ordinary travel upon such highways, or the construction, reconstruction or maintenance thereof, and to make reasonable rules and regulations for the proper control thereof. Any violation of such rules or regulations or noncompliance with such ordinances shall constitute a misdemeanor;
(ii) Except as otherwise provided for in this paragraph, whenever the order of the commission shall require the removal of, or other changes in the location of telephone, telegraph or other poles, signboards, gas, water, sewerage, oil or other pipelines; or other similar obstructions on the right-of-way or such other places where removal is required by law, the owners thereof shall at their own expense move or change the same to conform to the order of the commission. Any violation of such rules or regulations or noncompliance with such orders shall constitute a misdemeanor;
(iii) Rural water districts, rural water systems, nonprofit water associations and municipal public water systems in municipalities with a population of ten thousand (10,000) or less, according to the latest federal decennial census, shall not be required to bear the cost and expense of removal and relocation of water and sewer lines and facilities constructed or in place in the rights-of-way of state highways. The cost and expense of such removal and relocation, including any unpaid prior to July 1, 2002, shall be paid by the Department of Transportation;
(iv) Municipal public sewer systems and municipal gas systems owned by municipalities with a population of ten thousand (10,000) or less, according to the latest federal decennial census, shall not be required to bear the cost and expense of removal and relocation of lines and facilities constructed or in place in the rights-of-way of state highways. The cost and expense of such removal and relocation, including any unpaid prior to July 1, 2003, shall be paid by the Department of Transportation;
(f) To regulate and abandon grade crossings on any road fixed as a part of the state highway system, and whenever the commission, in order to avoid a grade crossing with the railroad, locates or constructs said road on one side of the railroad, the commission shall have the power to abandon and close such grade crossing, and whenever an underpass or overhead bridge is substituted for a grade crossing, the commission shall have power to abandon such grade crossing and any other crossing adjacent thereto. Included in the powers herein granted shall be the power to require the railroad at grade crossings, where any road of the state highway system crosses the same, to place signal posts with lights or other warning devices at such crossings at the expense of the railroad, and to regulate and abandon underpass or overhead bridges and, where abandoned because of the construction of a new underpass or overhead bridge, to close such old underpass or overhead bridge, or, in its discretion, to return the same to the jurisdiction of the county board of supervisors;
(g) To make proper and reasonable rules and regulations to control the cutting or opening of the road surfaces for subsurface installations;
(h) To make proper and reasonable rules and regulations for the removal from the public rights-of-way of any form of obstruction, to cooperate in improving their appearance, and to prescribe minimum clearance heights for seed conveyors, pipes, passageways or other structure of private or other ownership above the highways;
(i) To establish, and have the Transportation Department maintain and operate, and to cooperate with the state educational institutions in establishing, enlarging, maintaining and operating a laboratory or laboratories for testing materials and for other proper highway purposes;
(j) To provide, under the direction and with the approval of the Department of Finance and Administration, suitable offices, shops and barns in the City of Jackson;
(k) To establish and have enforced set-back regulations;
(l) To cooperate with proper state authorities in producing limerock for highway purposes and to purchase same at cost;
(m) To provide for the purchase of necessary equipment and vehicles and to provide for the repair and housing of same, to acquire by gift, purchase, condemnation or otherwise, land or lands and buildings in fee simple, and to authorize the Transportation Department to construct, lease or otherwise provide necessary and proper permanent district offices for the construction and maintenance divisions of the department, and for the repair and housing of the equipment and vehicles of the department; however, in each Supreme Court district only two (2) permanent district offices shall be set up, but a permanent status shall not be given to any such offices until so provided by act of the Legislature and in the meantime, all shops of the department shall be retained at their present location. As many local or subdistrict offices, shops or barns may be provided as is essential and proper to economical maintenance of the state highway system;
(n) To cooperate with the Department of Archives and History in having placed and maintained suitable historical markers, including those which have been approved and purchased by the State Historical Commission, along state highways, and to have constructed and maintained roadside driveways for convenience and safety in viewing them when necessary;
(o) To cooperate, in its discretion, with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks in planning and constructing roadside parks upon the right-of-way of state highways, whether constructed, under construction, or planned; said parks to utilize where practical barrow pits used in construction of state highways for use as fishing ponds. Said parks shall be named for abundant flora and fauna existing in the area or for the first flora or fauna found on the site;
(p) Unless otherwise prohibited by law, to make such contracts and execute such instruments containing such reasonable and necessary appropriate terms, provisions and conditions as in its absolute discretion it may deem necessary, proper or advisable, for the purpose of obtaining or securing financial assistance, grants or loans from the United States of America or any department or agency thereof, including contracts with several counties of the state pertaining to the expenditure of such funds;
(q) To cooperate with the Federal Highway Administration in the matter of location, construction and maintenance of the Great River Road, to expend such funds paid to the commission by the Federal Highway Administration or other federal agency, and to authorize the Transportation Department to erect suitable signs marking this highway, the cost of such signs to be paid from state highway funds other than earmarked construction funds;
(r) To cooperate, in its discretion, with the Mississippi Forestry Commission and the School of Forestry, Mississippi State University, in a forestry management program, including planting, thinning, cutting and selling, upon the right-of-way of any highway, constructed, acquired or maintained by the Transportation Department, and to sell and dispose of any and all growing timber standing, lying or being on any right-of-way acquired by the commission for highway purposes in the future; such sale or sales to be made in accordance with the sale of personal property which has become unnecessary for public use as provided for in Section 65-1-123, Mississippi Code of 1972;
(s) To expend funds in cooperation with the Division of Plant Industry, Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce, the United States government or any department or agency thereof, or with any department or agency of this state, to control, suppress or eradicate serious insect pests, rodents, plant parasites and plant diseases on the state highway rights-of-way;
(t) To provide for the placement, erection and maintenance of motorist services business signs and supports within state highway rights-of-way in accordance with current state and federal laws and regulations governing the placement of traffic control devices on state highways, and to establish and collect reasonable fees from the businesses having information on such signs;
(u) To request and to accept the use of persons convicted of an offense, whether a felony or a misdemeanor, for work on any road construction, repair or other project of the Transportation Department. The commission is also authorized to request and to accept the use of persons who have not been convicted of an offense but who are required to fulfill certain court-imposed conditions pursuant to Section 41-29-150(d)(1) or 99-15-26, Mississippi Code of 1972, or the Pretrial Intervention Act, being Sections 99-15-101 through 99-15-127, Mississippi Code of 1972. The commission is authorized to enter into any agreements with the Department of Corrections, the State Parole Board, any criminal court of this state, and any other proper official regarding the working, guarding, safekeeping, clothing and subsistence of such persons performing work for the Transportation Department. Such persons shall not be deemed agents, employees or involuntary servants of the Transportation Department while performing such work or while going to and from work or other specified areas;
(v) To provide for the administration of the railroad revitalization program pursuant to Section 57-43-1 et seq.;
(w) The Mississippi Transportation Commission is further authorized, in its discretion, to expend funds for the purchase of service pins for employees of the Mississippi Transportation Department;
(x) To cooperate with the State Tax Commission by providing for weight enforcement field personnel to collect and assess taxes, fees and penalties and to perform all duties as required pursuant to Section 27-55-501 et seq., Sections 27-19-1 et seq., 27-55-1 et seq., 27-59-1 et seq. and 27-61-1 et seq., Mississippi Code of 1972, with regard to vehicles subject to the jurisdiction of the Office of Weight Enforcement. All collections and assessments shall be transferred daily to the State Tax Commission;
(y) The Mississippi Transportation Commission may delegate the authority to enter into a supplemental agreement to a contract previously approved by the commission if the supplemental agreement involves an additional expenditure not to exceed One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00);
(z) (i) The Mississippi Transportation Commission, in its discretion, may enter into agreements with any county, municipality, county transportation commission, business, corporation, partnership, association, individual or other legal entity, for the purpose of accelerating the completion date of scheduled highway construction projects.
(ii) Such an agreement may permit the cost of a highway construction project to be advanced to the commission by a county, municipality, county transportation commission, business, corporation, partnership, association, individual or other legal entity, and repaid to such entity by the commission when highway construction funds become available; provided, however, that repayment of funds advanced to the Mississippi Transportation Commission shall be made no sooner than the commission's identified projected revenue schedule for funding of that particular construction project, and no other scheduled highway construction project established by statute or by the commission may be delayed by an advanced funding project authorized under this paragraph (z). Repayments to a private entity that advances funds to the Mississippi Transportation Commission under this paragraph (z) may not include interest or other fees or charges, and the total amount repaid shall not exceed the total amount of funds advanced to the commission by the entity.
(iii) In considering whether to enter into such an agreement, the commission shall consider the availability of financial resources, the effect of such agreement on other ongoing highway construction, the urgency of the public's need for swift completion of the project and any other relevant factors.
(iv) Such an agreement shall be executed only upon a finding by the commission, spread upon its minutes, that the acceleration of the scheduled project is both feasible and beneficial. The commission shall also spread upon its minutes its findings with regard to the factors required to be considered pursuant to item (iii) of this paragraph (z);
(aa) The Mississippi Transportation Commission, in its discretion, may purchase employment practices liability insurance, and may purchase an excess policy to cover catastrophic losses incurred under the commission's self-insured workers' compensation program authorized under Section 71-3-5. Such policies shall be written by the agent or agents of a company or companies authorized to do business in the State of Mississippi. The deductibles shall be in an amount deemed reasonable and prudent by the commission, and the premiums thereon shall be paid from the State Highway Fund. Purchase of insurance under this paragraph shall not serve as an actual or implied waiver of sovereign immunity or of any protection afforded the commission under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act;
(bb) The Mississippi Transportation Commission is further authorized, in its discretion, to expend funds for the purchase of promotional materials for safety purposes, highway beautification purposes and recruitment purposes;
(cc) To lease antenna space on communication towers which it owns;
(dd) To charge reasonable fees to other state agencies and to the Division of State Aid Road Construction, Department of Transportation, for any soil test or records duplication services so long as the fee does not exceed the actual cost of providing the service.
SECTION 7. Section 71-5-143, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
71-5-143. (1) In the administration of this chapter, the department shall cooperate, to the fullest extent consistent with the provisions of this chapter, with the Social Security Board created by the Social Security Act, approved August 14, 1935, as amended; shall make such reports in such form and containing such information as the Social Security Board may from time to time require, and shall comply with such provisions as the Social Security Board may from time to time find necessary to assure the correctness and verification of such reports; and shall comply with the reasonable, valid and lawful regulations prescribed by the Social Security Board pursuant to and under the authority of the Social Security Act, governing the expenditures of such sums as may be allotted and paid to this state under Title III of the Social Security Act, as amended, for the purpose of assisting in the administration of this chapter.
Upon request therefor, the department shall furnish to any agency of the United States charged with the administration of public works, or assistance through public employment, the name, address, ordinary occupation and employment status of each recipient of benefits, and such recipient's rights to further benefits under this chapter.
(2) In addition to providing reports to agencies of the federal government, the department may furnish reports to state agencies provided that it recoups the cost of producing such reports from such agencies.
SECTION 8. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2006.