§ 179-m. Duties of the comptroller. 1. The state comptroller shall:

a. Promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry
out the comptroller's responsibilities under this article.

b. Develop and implement a procedure for calculating the amount of
interest, if any, due to any contractor pursuant to the provisions of
this article. Such procedure shall include provisions for calculating
(i) the amount of time, in calendar days, between the date of receipt of
a proper invoice by the state agency and the date on which an approvable
voucher was delivered to the state comptroller; (ii) the amount of time
between the date on which an approvable voucher was delivered to the
state comptroller and the payment date; (iii) the amount of interest, if
any, chargeable to the state agency involved pursuant to this article;
and (iv) the amount of interest, if any, chargeable to the department of
audit and control pursuant to this article.

c. Develop and implement a procedure for paying such interest in not
more than seven days from the payment date on those proper invoices for
which interest is due and for which the director of the budget does not
issue a certificate or certificates increasing, transferring, or
interchanging funds so that an interest payment can be made pusuant to
this article. The comptroller shall also develop and implement a
procedure for paying such interest in not more than fourteen days from
the payment date on those proper invoices for which interest is due and
for which the director of the budget does issue a certificate or
certificates increasing, transferring, or interchanging funds so that an
interest payment can be made pursuant to this article.

d. Develop and implement a procedure by which every state agency will
notify contractors promptly and directly whenever the state comptroller
rejects a voucher and returns it to the state agency due to an error or
omission in the voucher by the contractor.

2. Nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to preclude the
comptroller from subsequently promulgating, developing, or amending
rules and regulations or procedures pursuant to, and consistent with,
this article.

3. The state comptroller shall submit a detailed special report to the
governor and the legislature which shall include the number and amounts
of interest payments made for each state agency, the number of interest
chargeable days and the number of days taken to process the contract
payment, the extent to which those delays occurred because the state
agency took longer than allotted pursuant to the provisions of this
article to process the affected invoices and the extent to which those
delays occurred because the department of audit and control took longer
than allotted pursuant to the provisions of this article to process the
related vouchers, and a summary of the principal reasons that such late
payments occurred. The report shall be delivered to the governor and
legislature within sixty calendar days after the conclusion of each
fiscal year.