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For Immediate
Release
4/18/07
CONTACT:
Alex Charlton
(610) 831-8831
PA
Senate Republican Communications
(717) 787-6725
Rafferty Requests the Senate Policy
Committee to Hold Hearings on PHEAA Expenses
Harrisburg –
Outraged by the excessive and wasteful spending by the
Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency
(PHEAA), State Senator John Rafferty today called on
the Pennsylvania Senate Republican Policy Committee to
conduct public hearings in May on the policies
regarding expenditures of PHEAA employees and board
members; and review legislation to provide better
oversight. Over the last few years, lavish expenses
for board members and employees for trips, spas, golf,
alcohol and even falconry lessons were approved.
Senator Rafferty has
introduced legislation which will require PHEAA to
contract with a third party accounting firm to conduct
an annual forensic audit of the PHEAA Board which must
be submitted to the House and Senate Finance
Committees by April 1 of each year. PHEAA would also
be required on that date to submit a report to the
Senate and House Finance Committees which contains all
expenses and revenues associated with the operations
of the PHEAA Board.
This legislation also
requires that all appointees to the PHEAA Board
selected by the House and the Senate be approved by a
majority vote in their respective chambers. It would
prohibit standing legislators from serving more than 2
consecutive terms on the PHEAA Board.
"Our goal is to bring
greater accountability and fiscal responsibility to
PHEAA and ensure that funds are not spent in a
wasteful or unnecessary manner," Rafferty said. "The
recent stories of financial mismanagement and over-the
top-spending have made it necessary for us to take a
closer look at the Agency's fiscal bottom line."
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