16-A-012 Approved Out-of-State Travel to Authorized Locations/Areas (November 20, 2015)

This informational circular serves to revise a reference to border city travel within Informational Circular 16-A-010 and provide additional out-of-state travel approval guidance.  The section of Informational Circular 16-A-010 entitled “Border City Travel – Discontinued” should be disregarded. 

Current Policy: 

Kansas Statute Annotated (KSA) 75-3208 generally prohibits out-of-state travel, but also includes broad exceptions for each branch of government.  Generally, the agency head is vested with authority to grant written approval for out-of-state travel.

Kansas Administrative Regulation (KAR) 1-16-18 established the border city travel rule for reimbursement of travel expenses incurred by state employees on official business.  Travel to border cities is reimbursed at in-state rates and does not require the specific out-of-state approval vested to the agency head through KSA 75-3208.  Effectively, the border city travel rule has provided a blanket out-of-state travel approval to designated cities/areas. 

Revised Policy Effective January 1, 2016: 

With the recent SMART system upgrade, and the forthcoming adoption of federal travel reimbursement rates, the border city concept is no longer applicable since travel reimbursement rates will be linked directly to the actual travel location.  Proposed amendments are underway to eliminate the border city travel rule from within current KARs. 

Note that on January 1, 2016, Policy Manual (PM) 3,904 Border City Designation – Border City Rule will no longer be effective and will be deleted. 

Note also that revisions to Policy Manual 10,001 Authorized Agency Officials and Approved Out-of-State Travel Locations/Areas and PM 3,817 Agency Travel Approval – Lodging Reimbursement Rates and Out-of-State Travel are being published and will be effective beginning January 1, 2016. 

Absent the formal blanket approval provided through the border city travel rule, best practice is for the agency head to grant written approval of all out-of-state travel on a trip by trip basis under KSA 75-3208.  See the Out-of-State Approval Requirements - Approval Method found in PM 3,817. 

To address concerns expressed by agencies that incur frequent out-of-state travel, under KSA 75-3728 the Department of Administration (DofA) has established an alternative method for out-of-state travel approval to designated locations/areas. 

The DA-115 form has been retitled as “Authorized Agency Officials and Approved Out-of-State Travel Locations/Areas”.  If an agency head chooses to establish an internal agency policy for all travel to approved out-of-state locations/areas, adopting such a policy is to be formalized by completing and submitting a revised DA-115.  The revised form includes a section for an agency to list the approved out-of-state locations/areas.  In order for the agency internal policy to be effective, it must be received by the DofA, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Agency Audit Services Team and may be emailed to: ARPreaudit@da.ks.gov.  The DA-115 is the source for the DofA to verify agency head or designee approved out-of-state travel locations/areas.  The DofA will not require trip-specific out-of-state travel approval documentation for locations/areas identified on the DA-115. 

If the approved out-of-state travel locations change, a new DA-115 must be completed with all current approved locations/areas listed.  Each form submitted replaces in total the previous form. 

As an internal control review, agency internal policies established under this alternative method and documented on the DA-115 will be reviewed against actual travel locations. 

The revised DA-115 form can be obtained at the DofA Document Center website as follows: Document Center.    

PM 10,001 Authorized Agency Officials and Approved Out-of-State Travel Locations/Areas should be reviewed for additional information on the DA-115 form.

DH:jm

Printable version of 16-A-012