GREEN (Co-sponsors), McKENNA, HAMPTON AND SELBY.
Read 1st time March 2, 2000, and 1000 copies ordered printed.
ANNE C. WALKER, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal section 34.055, RSMo 1994, relating to penalties for late payments by state agencies, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to the same subject.
Section A. Section 34.055, RSMo 1994, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 34.055, to read as follows:
34.055. 1. Except as otherwise provided in section 34.057, all invoices for supplies and services purchased by the state, duly approved and processed, shall be subject to interest charges or late payment charges as provided in this section.
2. After the forty-fifth day following the later of the date of delivery of the supplies and services or the date upon which the invoice is duly approved and processed, interest retroactive to the thirtieth day shall be paid on any unpaid balance[, except balances for services provided by a gas corporation, electrical corporation, water corporation, or sewer corporation which has received authorization from the public service commission to impose late payment charges on delinquent utility bills,] upon application of the vendor thereof. The rate of such interest shall be three percentage points above the average predominant prime rate quoted by commercial banks to large businesses, as determined by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. After the thirtieth day following the later of the date of delivery of the supplies and services or the date upon which the invoice is duly approved and processed, a penalty of two percent of the amount due the vendor shall be paid to the vendor. The penalty shall increase by two percent for every thirty-day period thereafter in which the vendor is not paid, except that no such penalty shall exceed eighteen percent in one year.
3. The interest and penalties authorized in subsection 2 of this section shall not apply to balances for services provided by a gas corporation, electrical corporation, water corporation, or sewer corporation which has received authorization from the public service commission to impose late payment charges on delinquent utility bills. Balances for such services shall be subject to the interest and penalties authorized pursuant to this subsection. The state shall be liable for late payment charges on any delinquent bill for services purchased by the state from a gas corporation, electrical corporation, water corporation, or sewer corporation which has received authorization from the public service commission to impose late payment charges on delinquent utility bills. The rate of such late payment charges shall be as established for each such corporation by order of the public service commission, but bills rendered to the state shall not be considered delinquent until thirty days after rendition of the bill by the corporation.
4. Any [such] interest charges or late payment charges authorized pursuant to this section shall be paid from appropriations which were made for the fiscal year in which the supplies or services were delivered to the respective departments purchasing such supplies or services. The commissioner of administration shall be responsible for the timely implementation of this section and all officers, departments, institutions and agencies of state government shall fully cooperate with the commissioner of administration in the implementation of this section. No late payment penalty shall be assessed against, nor payable by, the state unless pursuant to the provisions of this section.
5. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, recipients of funds from the low-income energy assistance
program shall be exempt from interest charges imposed by such section for the duration of the recipient's participation in
the program.
Missouri
House of Representatives