Conn. Gen. Stat. § 4-98: Appropriations encumbered by purchase order; current and capital expenditures. Delegation to agency. Purchasing cards. Appointment of purchase card coordinator. Report.

(a) Except for such emergency purchases as are made by a budgeted agency under regulations adopted by the Commissioner of Administrative Services, no budgeted agency or any agent thereof shall incur any obligation, by order, contract or otherwise, except by the issue of a purchase order or any other documentation approved by the Comptroller, necessary to process the transaction transmitted by the budgeted agency or its agents to the commissioner and the Comptroller, provided the amount to be charged against the appropriation for a budgeted agency in any year for a purchase order for a current expenditure shall be the amount anticipated to be spent in such year. The amount to be charged against the appropriation for any budgeted agency in any year for a capital expenditure, including an installment purchase, shall be the state's total cost for such capital expenditure unless otherwise authorized by the General Assembly or approved by the Finance Advisory Committee. Upon the receipt of any such purchase order or any other documentation approved by the Comptroller necessary to process the transaction, the Comptroller shall immediately charge the same to the specific appropriation of the budgeted agency issuing the same and certify on the face of the purchase order or approve such other documentation that the purchase is approved and recorded, if the proposed purchase is within the applicable specific appropriation and the budgeted agency has unencumbered funds sufficient to defray such expenditure. In transactions requiring purchase orders, the Comptroller shall promptly transmit such certified purchase order to the vendor named in the purchase order.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, the Comptroller may delegate to any budgeted agency the certification and transmission requirements of purchase orders using authorized electronic methods, provided such agency transmits the information contained in such purchase orders to the Comptroller. Upon receipt of any such electronic transmission, the Comptroller shall immediately charge the same to the specific appropriation of the budgeted agency issuing the same and shall electronically certify that the purchase is approved and recorded, if the proposed purchase is within the applicable specific appropriation and the budgeted agency has unencumbered funds sufficient to defray such expenditure. Upon receipt of the Comptroller's certification, the budgeted agency shall transmit the purchase order to the vendor named in the purchase order.

(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) or (b) of this section, the Comptroller may allow budgeted agencies to use purchasing cards for purchases not exceeding two hundred fifty thousand dollars, unless such agency receives written approval from the Comptroller and the Commissioner of Administrative Services to exceed such amount. No budgeted agency, or any official, employee or agent of a budgeted agency, shall incur any obligation using such a card, except in accordance with the most recent procedures established by the Comptroller. Any such procedures established on or after October 1, 2025, shall include, but need not be limited to, (1) prescribing which employees are eligible to use such card and limitations concerning such use, (2) the types of transactions that are authorized to be charged on the card, (3) limitations on the amounts authorized to be charged for travel, meals and entertainment purposes, (4) the timing of submission of receipts or other reporting concerning the use of such card, (5) a requirement for the digitization of all such receipts or other reporting in CORE-CT or other applicable system, (6) the process for agency approval of reports concerning the use of such card, and (7) specific remedies for noncompliance. Each budgeted agency shall implement such procedures, except a budgeted agency may adopt policies that are more stringent than the requirements of this section or the procedures adopted thereunder.

(d) Each budgeted agency shall appoint an employee to serve as its purchasing card coordinator, who shall be responsible for ensuring the agency's compliance with the procedures adopted under this section and such agency shall inform the Comptroller of such appointment. Such coordinator shall (1) authorize the issuance of purchasing cards to an employee upon the determination by such employee's supervisor that such employee should have such authorization, (2) review receipts or other documentation of transactions made using the card by agency employees and ensure such receipts or documentation are entered into CORE-CT or other applicable system, (3) establish, in accordance with procedures of the Comptroller, dollar limits for the use of such card by agency employees, and (4) deauthorize any employee from using the card who is not providing receipts or other documentation of transactions within the time period established by the agency procedures or who is otherwise not complying with the procedures.

(e) Not later than August 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, each budgeted agency that paid for an expense using a purchasing card during the immediately preceding fiscal year shall report to the Comptroller, on a form prescribed by the Comptroller, concerning its usage of such cards during the preceding fiscal year, and any enforcement of violations of the policies of this section.