475A.6  Certification of expenses to utilities board.
  1.  a.  The consumer advocate shall determine the advocate’s expenses, including a reasonable allocation of general office expenses, directly attributable to the performance of the advocate’s duties involving specific persons subject to direct assessment, and shall certify the expenses to the utilities board not less than quarterly. The expenses shall then be includable in the expenses of the board subject to direct assessment under section 476.10.
  b.  The consumer advocate shall annually, within ninety days after the close of each fiscal year, determine the advocate’s expenses, including a reasonable allocation of general office expenses, attributable to the performance of the advocate’s duties generally, and shall certify the expenses to the utilities board. The expenses shall then be includable in the expenses of the board subject to remainder assessment under section 476.10.
  2.  The consumer advocate is entitled to notice and opportunity to be heard in any utilities board proceeding on objection to an assessment for expenses certified by the consumer advocate. Expenses assessed under this section shall not exceed the amount appropriated for the consumer advocate division of the department of justice.
  3.  The office of consumer advocate may expend additional funds, including funds for outside consultants, if those additional expenditures are actual expenses which exceed the funds budgeted for the performance of the advocate’s duties. Before the office expends or encumbers an amount in excess of the funds budgeted, the director of the department of management shall approve the expenditure or encumbrance. Before approval is given, the director of the department of management shall determine that the expenses exceed the funds budgeted by the general assembly to the office of consumer advocate and that the office does not have other funds from which such expenses can be paid. Upon approval of the director of the department of management, the office may expend and encumber funds for excess expenses. The amounts necessary to fund the excess expenses shall be collected from those utilities or persons which caused the excess expenditures, and the collections shall be treated as repayment receipts as defined in section 8.2, subsection 8.
83 Acts, ch 127, §13; 90 Acts, ch 1247, §10; 99 Acts, ch 20, §1, 6; 2016 Acts, ch 1011, §84; 2023 Acts, ch 19, §2652
Referred to in §476.10, 476.53
Section amended