2012-13 Offices of the Legislative Assembly Estimates Genera! Revenue Fund ALBERTA 2012-13 Offices of the Legislative Assembly Estimates General Revenue Fund Presented by the Honourable Doug Horner Deputy Premier President of Treasury Board and Enterprise in t ine Legislative Assembly of Alberta February 9, 2 012 ISBN 978-0-7785-9857-2- Print version ISBN 978-0-7785-9858-9 - E lectronic version ISSN 1919-1529 -Print version ISSN 1920-8804 - E lectronic version TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY TABLES Preface i Schedule of Amounts to be Voted 1 Voted Expense and Capital Investment by Office 2 Amounts Not Required to be Voted by Office 2 Expense by Object for all Offices ' 3 Full Time Equivalent Employment 3 DETAILS OF THE OFFICES OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY ESTIMATES Support to the Legislative Assembly 5 Office of the Auditor General 9 Office of the Ombudsman " 13 Office of the Chief Electoral Officer 17 Office of the Ethics Commissioner 21 Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner 25 Office of the Child and Youth Advocate 29 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/officesoflegisla00albe_13 PREFACE The 2012-13 Offices of the Legislative Assembly Estimates reports the requirements for public monies from the General Revenue Fund to fund the operations of the Legislative Assembly and its Offices for the year commencing April 1, 2012. Together with the 2012-13 Government Estimates, this document identifies the total requirements for public monies from the General Revenue Fund for the year. This Preface provides a summary of the various kinds of information presented, an overview of the appropriations process, definitions of supply votes and selected terms, and a summary of major changes in o rganization. The Schedule of Amounts to be Voted illustrates how the supply votes will be presented in the schedule to the Appropriation Act, 2012 to be tabled in t he Legislative Assembly. Summary information is p rovided in t he following tables: ■ Voted Expense and Capital! nvestment by Office, - • ■ Amounts Not Required to be Voted by Office, ■ Expense by O bject for All Offices, and ■ Full Time Equivalent Employment. The details provided for each office presents information on amounts for each office to be drawn from the General Revenue Fund as required by section 24 of the Financial Administration Act. The details include the following information, as applicable: ■ Amounts to be Voted, ■ Supplementary Information (including a statement of objective and services provided), ■ Voted Expense and Capital Investment by Program, ■ Amounts Not Required to be Voted, ■ Statement of Operations, and ■ Change in Capital Assets (where applicable). Appropriations from the General Revenue Fund In Alberta, the supply process is g overned by the conventions and legal requirements of the Canadian Constitution, Alberta's Financial Administration Act, and the Standing Orders of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. When the 2012-13 Offices of the Legislative Assembly Estimates is tabled in the Legislative Assembly, the Government will make a motion to refer the report to Committee of Supply. Committee of Supply will vote on the report without debate or amendment and the supply votes as approved by the resolutions of Committee of Supply will be drafted into the Appropriation Act, 2012 Bill introduced to the Legislative Assembly. Once this bill is enacted by royal assent, the Legislative Assembly and its Offices will have the authority to draw cash from the General Revenue Fund up to the limits of the supply votes set out in the Act. The 2012-13 Offices of the Legislative Assembly Estimates details the estimated amounts required by each office for the coming year. Each office's estimate amounts are divided into: ■ those that require authority to draw cash from the General Revenue Fund under a supply vote pursuant to an appropriation act, and ■ those that do not require a supply vote because no cash disbursement is required. Most non-cash amounts are for expenses related to cash disbursed under a supply vote in a previous fiscal year. For example, amortization expense is related to the cash disbursements authorized under a capital investment supply vote when the capital asset was acquired. Other non-cash amounts are for transactions that will not require cash, such as the year-over- year changes in v acation benefit liabilities. Definitions of Supply Votes and Other Terms An Estimate is t he amount requested by an Office of the Legislative Assembly to meet each of its planned commitments for the fiscal year. The Financial Administration Act requires the 2012-13 Office of the Legislative Assembly Estimates to report estimates of any amount that will require a cash withdrawal from the General Revenue Fund during the fiscal year i commencing April 1,2012. In addition, this document reports further estimates of revenue, non-cash expense, change in capital asset balances, and full time equivalent employment. A Supply Vote is a discrete allocation from the 2012-13 Offices of the Legislative Assembly Estimates that defines the amount of cash funding that may be drawn from the General Revenue Fund for a specified purpose. Unlike government departments, each office's cash funding requirements for expense, capital investment and other disbursements are combined in a single vote named Expense and Capital Investment. An Appropriation is an authorization to withdraw and expend public money from the General Revenue Fund or another provincial fund or account. The Financial Administration Act requires that all such authorities be provided in legislation passed by the Legislative Assembly. Appropriations may be created by an appropriation act or under an existing statute. Appropriations under an appropriation act must be created pursuant to a supply vote, or a set of supply votes, as resolved by the Committee of Supply. Expense consists of program expense such as salaries, supplies and services (including the acquisition of inventory held for resale), and grants. Capital Investment consists of investments in capital assets valued at $2,500 or more for the Legislative Assembly itself and $5,000 or more for the Offices. Offices of the Assembly Organization and Budget Presentation Methodology The 2012-13 Offices of the Legislative Assembly Estimates reflect the organization of the Legislative Assembly and its Offices as of April 1,2012. This report uses the same budget presentation methodology applied in the 2012-13 Government Estimates, and the amounts presented in t his report are consolidated within the Budget 2012 Fiscal Plan. On April 1, 2012 the Alberta Child and Youth Advocate Act will be proclaimed into force for the 2012-13 fiscal year and make the Child and Youth Advocate an Officer of the Legislative Assembly. Previously many of the activities of the Advocate were the responsibility of the Ministry of Human Services. As noted in the Advocates details, this report does not restate the amounts for these activities in past years. However, on consolidation into the Budget 2012 Fiscal Plan, Child and Youth Advocate amounts are consolidated into the total spending of the Legislative Assembly and its Offices for reasons of comparability. ii PREFACE SCHEDULE OF AMOUNTS TO BE VOTED SUPPLY VOTES AS PRESENTED IN THE APPROPRIATION BILL OFFICE and VOTE 2012-13 Estimate Support to the Legislative Assembly Expense and Capital Investment $ 65,414,000 Office of the Auditor General Expense and Capital Investment $ 25,650,000 Office of the Ombudsman Expense and Capital Investment $ 3,011,000 Office of the Chief Electoral Officer Expense and Capitallnvestment $ 23,200,000 Office of the Ethics Commissioner Expense and Capital Investment $ 940,000 Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner Expense and Capital Investment $ 6,288,000 Office of the Child and Youth Advocate Expense and Capital Investment $ 11,038,000 Amount of Expense and Capital Investment to be voted under section 1 o f the Appropriation Act, 201 2 $ 1 35,541 ,000 1 VOTED EXPENSE AND CAPITAL INVESTMENT BY OFFICE (thousands of dollars) Comparable 20A1c0t-u1a1l 20B1u1d-g1e2t F2o0r1e1c-a1s2t E2s0t1i2ma-t1e3 EXPENSE Support to the Legislative Assembly 53,139 53,514 53,936 62,760 Office of the Auditor General 21,980 22,715 23,840 25,395 Office of the Ombudsman 2,885 Office of the Chief Electoral Officer 2,765603 24,820 292,,352402 223,,900110 Office of the Ethics Commissioner 4,347 885 940 857 Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner Office of the Child and Youth Advocate 5,450 5,669 5,649 116,,023388 Sub-total 110,488 116,144 132,282 88,329 CAPITAL INVESTMENT SOfufpipcoer t o f t toh e t h eA u dLietgoirs l aGteinvee r aAls sembly 1,225792 4,913565 5 2,265554 "9M 300 2,264 Office of the Chief Electoral Officer 40 30400 300 494 Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner 50 Sub-total 94 2,119 5,431 2,609 3,259 Total 90,448 115,919 118,753 135,541 AMOUNTS NOT REQUIRED TO BE VOTED BY OFFICE EXPENSE 778 778 Support to the Legislative Assembly 275 Office of the Auditor General 336 295 290 Office of the Ombudsman 3 3 3 3 29 Office of the Chief Electoral Officer 590 590 590 556 Office of the Ethics Commissioner 58 58 Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner 52 32 37 978 52 57 Total 1 7 62 1 7 5 6 " " """ 2