Overview
In order to continue its analysis and advocacy, the Office of the State Auditor has made four legislative recommendations that would allow DLM to better pursue its mission of advising the Commonwealth of the financial impacts of state action on municipalities. The first legislative proposal standardizes the process of accounting for the costs of early voting and suggests combining early voting review with the biennial survey for uniform polling hours conducted by DLM since the mid-1980s. The second proposal creates electronic backpacks for foster children containing their educational records, making it easier for certain parties to access this information and speed up the process of integrating students into new schools. The third legislative proposal offers changes to the state-owned-land PILOT program, consistent with the recommendations from DLM’s municipal impact report on the subject. The fourth proposal adds DLM to the list of entities receiving municipal impact statements from executive agencies promulgating new rules and regulations, allowing DLM to have a broader reach in conducting policy reviews and producing these five-year reports. These recommendations are summarized in more detail in Appendix B.