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Regular Session, 2010
SENATE CONCURRENT STUDY REQUEST NO. 3
BY SENATOR DONAHUE
A CONCURRENT STUDY REQUEST1
To request the Senate Committee on Senate and Governmental Affairs and the House2
Committee on House and Governmental Affairs to meet and function as a joint3
committee in order to study centralizing the collection of all or a portion of non-tax4
government debt receivables in the Department of Revenue, and whether such action5
is likely to result in a timely increase in revenues from delinquent non-tax debts, as6
well as a significant improvement in the return on total investment for Louisiana.7
WHEREAS, the current, dire budget situation requires the state to utilize every8
method to enhance revenue productivity by a faster, more efficient and effective method of9
collecting government debt receivables; and 10
WHEREAS, state agencies are attempting, with various levels of success, to operate11
their collection offices efficiently and to maximize their individual results, but lack the12
extensive experience and economies of scale to bring the tools, workflow processes, and13
technologies needed to materially improve their collections; and14
WHEREAS, it appears that a number of such agencies make significant use of15
private collection agencies which make sense for agencies which do not have experienced16
and robust collection operations, but is likely producing an expensive and suboptimal result17
for the state; and18
WHEREAS, the experience of the substantial number of states which have19
centralized the collection of numerous types of government debt in their state tax or revenue20
agency has been positive, creating economies of scale and allowing those states to collect21
more of the liabilities owed to them; and22 SCSR NO. 3
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WHEREAS, the Louisiana Department of Revenue which already has an extensive,1
experienced, and sophisticated tax collection operation, is better positioned to improve the2
collection and management of delinquent non-tax debt than is any other Louisiana3
government agency; and4
WHEREAS, once centralized collection by the Department of Revenue is established5
for the state, the collection mechanism may also be made available to municipalities,6
parishes, and other special districts which have government debt receivables.7
THEREFORE, the Legislature of Louisiana requests the Senate Committee on Senate8
and Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on House and Governmental Affairs9
to meet and function as a joint committee in order to study centralizing the collection of all10
or a portion of non-tax government debt receivables in the Department of Revenue, and11
whether such action is likely to result in a timely increase in revenues from delinquent non-12
tax debts, as well as a significant improvement in the return on total investment for13
Louisiana. Such study should include, but not be limited to the following:14
(1) Which statutes it will be necessary to enact or amend in order to provide15
to the Department of Revenue the legal authority to perform collection actions on16
behalf of other state agencies and whether Louisiana should follow the example of17
other states and permit the department to collect all debts assigned to the department18
in the same manner as tax debts are collected.19
(2) Whether the Department of Revenue has the ability, with the installation20
of new collection hardware and software, to collect a portion of state debt without21
assigning the collection to a private collection agency, thereby increasing overall22
collections and eliminating the need for the state to pay a commission on the easier23
collection cases, and to assign to a private collection agency only those debts24
outstanding after the department completes its collection process.25
(3) On the other hand, whether the Department of Revenue should contract26
with a private collection agency to implement, operate and maintain new27
infrastructure for centralized debt collection for a set term, after which the28
department would assume the responsibility, or whether debt collection should29
simply be given to private collection agencies to collect for a commission.30 SCSR NO. 3
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(4) Which payment method should be utilized to pay for the cost of1
establishing centralized collections, including whether deferred payment methods2
such as benefits funding, which defers payment for new infrastructure until after the3
benefits have been achieved, might be utilized.4
(5) Whether, and under which circumstances, centralized collection, once5
established, might be made available to municipalities, parishes, and other special6
districts which have government debt receivables, and what should be the cost7
recovery charge levied for such service.8
(6) Whether the centralized collection model could be used to establish a9
statewide data repository available for the use of any authorized agency.10
A copy of this Study Request shall be transmitted to the secretary of the Department11
of Revenue and to the commissioner of administration, who, in turn, shall transmit a copy12
of this Study Request to those agencies who are collecting government debt receivables13
owed to such agencies.14