Seabaugh bill on overpayment recovery passes Senate

The Georgia Senate this week passed Senate Bill (SB) 8 authored by Sen. Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg) that aims to recover overpayments made by state agencies to vendors.

“It is vital that we continue to promote open, transparent government that is accountable to the taxpayers. I believe this bill ensures that we are good stewards of taxpayer dollars,” said Seabaugh. “In these tough economic times, government must function as Georgia families do by balancing our budget, cutting back spending and reducing waste. This bill promotes efficiency, encourages accountability, and prevents us from being wasteful with valuable tax dollars.”

SB 8 requires the state accounting officer to enter into a contract for the purpose of performing audits and collecting overpayments made by state agencies to vendors. These errors can occur because of pricing errors, neglected rebates, noncompliance with contract provisions and other similar inadvertent overpayments for the 2008 through 2011 fiscal years and annually thereafter, according to the Senate press office.

SB 8 now moves to the House.

Seabaugh serves as Chairman of the Reapportionment and Redistricting Committee.