Summary

Section 455.219, Florida Statutes, describes the Department’s responsibilities relating to the monitoring of the Professional Regulation Trust Fund (Trust Fund). Our audit included an evaluation of the Department’s compliance with selected provisions of Section 455.219, Florida Statutes, as well as the effectiveness of those laws, as implemented, in ensuring the fiscal soundness of the Trust Fund and the profession accounts included therein. The Department had, in general, complied with the laws selected by us for testing. However, as described below, there continue to be some professions which lack a sufficient cash balance and some professions with cash balances in excess of that required.

• Deficit cash balances were shown at June 30, 1999, and June 30, 2000, for some professions, and some actions were taken to reduce the deficits. Although the corrective actions taken did help, deficit cash balances continued to be reported at June 30, 2001, for some of these professions. Legislative action may be needed to meaningfully address the financial condition of some professions.
   
• The cash balance in the Professional Regulation Trust Fund has increased from $14 million at June 30, 1996, to $42 million at June 30, 2001 (excluding amounts set aside in recovery funds or the Minority Scholarship Fund for Accountants). In response to the increasing Trust Fund cash balance, the Department, as authorized by law, instituted a "fee holiday" to waive license renewal fees for several professions. When fully implemented through the 2001-2002 fiscal year, the "fee holiday" should reduce, on a temporary basis, the excessive cash balances. However, permanent reductions may not occur absent the adoption of reduced license fees for these professions.

The Secretary's complete response to the audit findings and recommendations in audit report No. 02-059 may be viewed in its entirety on the Auditor General Web site.