Law resolves audit concerns

A legislative audit that seemed fraught with the possibility of verbal fireworks sailed through the Audit Subcommittee of the Legislative Management Committee on Tuesday without a sparkler's worth of controversy.

The audit report, titled "Archaeological Surveys in Utah," addressed a number of possible concerns with the Division of State History. But staff members of auditor general John Schaff said that halfway through the audit, during the 2006 Legislature, lawmakers passed HB139, a bill that addressed many of the concerns.

The rest of the concerns were more with the way other agencies react to the need to survey and protect archaeological resources than the actions of Division of State History.

Also, the audit showed little validity regarding complaints that the division's archaeological surveys had delayed projects or made them more expensive.

For example, a major recommendation is "Agencies should develop internal policies for cultural resources."

On average, the division processed 1,728 cases per year in which reviews were necessary to check for cultural resources. Road construction, pipelines and other projects can impact prehistoric or historic sites. Of those, only 22 on the average — about 1 percent — are shown to have adverse effects on cultural resources.

"Most cases require little attention from the SHIPO (state historic preservation officer) because no cultural properties are affected or the division chooses not to offer comment regarding the impact of the project on cultural resources," the report says.

"However, a test of 32 adverse-effect cases from 2004 and 2005 identified five cases in which the Division of State History insisted that the agency perform a more intensive survey or mitigation work than is required by statute.

"While relatively few in number, these cases have defined the division's influence over state agencies."

The report pointed out that the division is an adviser to state agencies and it mostly provides "good advice, and the majority of cases move ahead without disagreement."

Occasionally, however, the comments from the division "have taken on a regulatory tone," the report adds.

"The audit basically found that we, State History, do our jobs well," division director Philip F. Notarianni told the legislators.

He said the division agrees with the recommendations in the report and that HB139 addressed many of the concerns.

The tone question arose because the division had been both advising agencies and was involved with the permitting process, Wilson Martin, the preservation officer, said after the meeting. HB139, by taking the permitting responsibility away from the division and placing it under the governor's Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office, cleared up that conflict.

"We now have the role of just an adviser," Martin added.

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