House Bill 496 Summary

• Requires local governmental entities to file audit reports with the legislative services office within nine months of the audit period end and post audits on their websites if they maintain one.

• Establishes three audit requirement tiers based on annual expenditures: full annual audits for entities exceeding $250,000; annual or biennial audits for entities between $100,000-$250,000; and no minimum requirement for entities under $100,000.

• Mandates that every account holding taxpayer funds be audited every two years or that governing boards establish written policies and procedures to prevent theft and embezzlement through management controls and internal oversight.

• Requires entities without public websites to include salary and benefit cost statistics in their audited financial reports, including full-time position employee counts and detailed breakdowns of wages, health care benefits, retirement benefits, and accrued benefits per employee.

• Denies public funds from the Idaho state tax commission, city, or county revenues to entities that fail to comply with establishing management controls or reporting employee salary and benefit costs as required.