§ 19-4-206 - Conservation of appropriations in changes of administration. - Arkansas Statutes

19-4-206. Conservation of appropriations in changes of administration.

(a) Proportionate Amounts. In those instances in which any constitutional or elective official of the State of Arkansas is due to retire from office and another constitutional official is to take his or her place, the appropriations and funds provided by the General Assembly for the operation of any such office shall be conserved so as to provide his or her successor in office with a proportionate amount of available appropriations and funds for the remainder of the fiscal year during which the change of office takes place. For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this section it is provided that:

(1) No constitutional official shall cause, or cause to be incurred, any obligation or issue any voucher against the appropriations of his or her agency in excess of a true proportion which his or her time of service during the fiscal year of retirement bears to the fiscal year. For the purpose of establishing the time of service of any such official, the time of retirement shall be construed to be that established by the Arkansas Constitution and statutes of this state for the retirement of the constitutional and elective officials of this state;

(2) (A) Within thirty (30) days after each general election, the Auditor of State shall notify all retiring constitutional officials that they will be required to file in his or her office a statement, duly sworn to, setting out:

(i) The total of all vouchers issued against the appropriations of the agency;

(ii) A list of all outstanding obligations; and

(iii) A detailed list of all proposed expenditures to be made prior to the time of retirement.

(B) In the event that the Auditor of State is retiring, the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State shall notify the Auditor of State to file the aforementioned statement required of the Auditor of State with the office of the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State; and

(3) The Auditor of State shall not issue any warrant in payment of the voucher of any agency coming under the provisions of this section in excess of the proportion provided for in this section. The Auditor of State shall be liable under his or her official bond for issuing any such warrant in excess of such proportion. However, in cases of calamity or emergency, the Governor may, by proclamation, authorize any agency to exceed the limitations of this section. Under such conditions the Auditor of State and the disbursing officer shall be relieved of any liability under this section if, in making the proclamation, the Governor states the reasons for the emergency and the probable amount of the excess obligations which the agency is authorized to incur.

(b) Purpose. It is the purpose of this section to provide for the conservation of appropriations for the normal operations of agencies, and the provisions of this section are not applicable to appropriations for improvements or to special appropriations.