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Deliberations on the Financial Management of Parliament Bill [B74-2008]
A summary of this committee meeting is not yet available.
FINANCE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
DELIBERATIONS ON THE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OF PARLIAMENT BILL
Chairperson: Mr N Nene (ANC)
Documents handed out:
Overview of the Financial Management of Parliament Bill: PowerPoint presentation
Response to comments on the draft Financial Management of Parliament Bill
The Committee was briefed on the Financial Management of Parliament Bill as gazetted in November 2005. The briefing was aimed at refreshing the Committee's mind on the contents of the Bill. The Committee also considered a submission made by National Treasury. There were two overarching principles that informed the drafting process of the Bill. The first was Parliament's status as an independent branch of government and the second was the constitutional commitment to a transparent, accountable and effective administration. The Bill would regulate the financial management of Parliament and provide norms and standards for provincial legislatures for the regulation of the financial management.
The Bill would not cover provincial legislatures because the Committee did not want to encroach on the powers of provinces to regulate or govern their own affairs. However, it would contain general norms and standards that provincial legislature would be expected to follow.
The Committee disagreed with the proposal that the Bill should allow the executive authority to approve departures from regulations and condonation of non-compliance with regulations on good grounds.
The Committee was briefed on the Financial Management of Parliament Bill as gazetted in November 2005. The Chairperson said that the Committee had received comments from the Secretary to Parliament and National Treasury. The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) was also interested in making a submission before the Committee.
Overview of the Bill
Mr C Barberton (Cornerstone Economic Research) and Mr P Benjamin (Legal drafter) attended the meeting. Mr Barberton gave a brief overview of the Bill. (See document attached). There were two overarching principles that informed the drafting process of the Bill. The first was Parliament's status as an independent branch of government and the second was the constitutional commitment to a transparent, accountable and effective administration. The Bill would regulate the financial management of Parliament and provide norms and standards for provincial legislatures for the regulation of the financial management. The Speaker and the Chairperson would jointly constitute the Executive authority of Parliament and the Secretary to Parliament would be the accounting officer.
He said that questions had been raised on the application of the Bill on provincial legislatures and constitutional institutions. The Committee had decided that the Bill should be limited to the national Parliament. A lot of work would have to be done should the Committee change its decision and decide to cover provincial legislatures' constitutional institutions. There would be a need for extensive consultation with the affected parties. The Committee should also consider new proposals regarding party funding and comments received on the Bill.
Mr A Moloto (ANC) said that a lot had been said about a policy on party funding. He had never seen such a document. He requested that members should have a copy of the document before the meeting was adjourned.
Ms J Fubbs (ANC) said that there was a suggestion about including constitutional institutions within the scope of the Bill. She asked how far they could possibly be included in the current framework of the Bill. She felt that the institutions could, at this stage, be left to Treasury to deal with. It was acknowledged that the Bill was concerned with norms and standards and one should hesitate to go little a further due to the constitutional provisions regarding provinces and legislatures.
The Chairperson said that the Committee should not open discussion on the inclusion of provincial legislatures. The Committee should also respect decisions that it had already taken.
Mr Y Bhamjee (ANC) said that the Executive authority would be responsible for the management of Parliament and was accountable to Parliament, represented by the 'joint committee' established in terms of clause 15 and the Public Accounts Committee. He asked what would be the role of the joint Committee. Would the Chairperson and Speaker meet regularly with the joint Committee? Would the Committee report in the manner that Ministers reported to the Committee on a relatively regular basis? Who would play the oversight role on the Committee should it form part of the Executive authority? It was important to have an oversight mechanism even if it was Parliament that was initiating structures.
The Chairperson urged members to resist the temptation to begin to engage with the Bill at this stage. The briefing was to refresh the Committee's mind on contents of Bill.
Mr Bhamjee said that there was a provision that required that the majority of members of the Audit Committee should come from outside Parliament. He asked if there was precedence on this in Parliament. The Bill should contain definitions of concepts like government, for instance.
Mr Barberton replied that the Constitution outlined four branches of government: Parliament and provincial legislatures, the Judiciary, the Executive and constitutional institutions specified in Chapter nine and other provisions of the Constitution. These operated independently from each other but also in a co-operative manner. All these constituted government.
Mr L Johnson (ANC) said that the accounting officer should submit a draft of the budget and strategic plan to the Executive authority ten months before the beginning of a financial year. He asked what the current practice was. Was this happening at the moment? There was an Audit Committee and an internal Audit Committee that was independent. He asked how the internal Audit Committee would be constituted for it to be independent. He also asked the presenter to give examples of financial misconduct and abuse of position as contemplated in the Bill.
Mr Barberton replied that in terms of good governance practice as set out in the King II report and the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), Audit Committees were usually constituted of members from the organisation and people external to the organisation being audited. In the case of Departments one would have people who had experience in auditing financial management appointed from the private sector. The model followed in the Bill was simply following good governance practice. The Bill had a provision that required that members of the Audit Committee might not have any financial relationship with Parliament. The idea was to ensure that they were highly independent and could serve on the committee objectively.
With regard to the internal Audit Committee, he said that one did not have an internal Audit Committee but an internal audit unit composed of employees of the organisation. Their independence was ensured by the fact that their audit plan was approved by the Audit Committee and not the accounting officer. The unit reported to both the Audit Committee and the accounting officer. There was a measure of external reporting to ensure independence. Other mechanisms were the provisions of the Bill that required them to have access to all information and to operate in terms of an audit charter that was drawn up by the Audit Committee. The audit charter would outline what they were expected to and how to do it in order to ensure their independence.
On the submission of the Strategic Plan, he said that he could not comment on current practice. The reason to bring the time period to ten months was to allow the joint committee to comment on the Strategic Plan before the budget process was too far down the line. The joint Committee should be able to influence the process. It was often a problem in governments where the budget process was like a steam train which could not be stopped easily. The risk was that the joint Committee's comments would only reach the budget process at a stage where they could no longer be practically incorporated. In order to avoid such a situation, the Bill was putting in place a mechanism that would ensure that the Committee would have adequate time to influence content of the Strategic Plan and budget. This issue was discussed in the Committee in May 2005 and the original proposal was six months. The Committee had then decided to change the period to ten months.
Mr Barberton said that the provisions on financial misconduct were concerned with the responsibilities of the accounting officer. The accounting officer was responsible for ensuring that certain things were done. For instance, the accounting officer had to ensure that the budget was submitted in time. If the budget was submitted late and this was due to negligence, the officer could be charged with financial misconduct. With respect to abuse of position, different officials had responsibilities and made decisions that affected Parliament and people contracted to it. They were placed in a position of trust. Abuse of position would include issues like the subversion of the supply chain management and making decisions that were contrary to the interests of Parliament.
Submission on the Bill
The Chairperson invited the drafters to take the Committee through the comments on the Bill and indicate if they could be accommodated. The Committee had received submissions from National Treasury and the Secretary to Parliament.
Mr P Benjamin took the Committee through comments made by Treasury on the Bill. (See document attached). It was recommended that the Bill should provide for transfer payments to constitutional institutions on the vote of Parliament. These institutions were accountable to the National Assembly, and must report on their activities and the performance of their functions to the Assembly. There was a Constitutional Court judgement to the effect that the current oversight position of constitutional entities was not consistent with the Constitution. He supported the suggestion that constitutional entities should be covered by the Bill. However, this would require lengthy process to deal with adequately. He proposed that the Bill should go ahead in its current form and that a new Bill should be drafted to address this issue.
Mr Moloto said that the suggestion had far reaching implications. There might be a need to change the title of the Bill should the suggestion be accepted because one could not only talk about financial management of Parliament when the Bill also referred to constitutional institutions. He appealed for members to apply their minds to the suggestion before making a decision.
The Chairperson said that Parliament was working on a process of oversight and accountability. There was a model that was currently serving before the Oversight and Accountability Task Team that was also looking at chapter nine institutions. He agreed that the issue should be left to a separate process.
Mr Barberton said that in terms of the Bill, the executive authority had the power to make regulations or issue instructions that were not inconsistent with the Bill. Regulations and instructions might prescribe that the prior approval of the executive authority should be obtained. Treasury had submitted that a provision should be included in the Bill to allow for approval by the executive authority of departures from regulations and condonation of non-compliance with regulations on good grounds.
The Committee asked the presenter to clarify the proposal.
Mr Barberton gave an example of a supply chain management policy which would essentially be an instruction to the Accounting officer to apply a policy that had certain objectives in mind. One might find that the proposals for a particular service did not fall directly in line with the policy. In those instances one would like to give the Executive authority the power to approve a decision that was still in the best interests of Parliament but not directly in line with the supply chain management policy.
Mr Moloto found the proposal puzzling. He was of the view that all regulations that would be made would be in the interests of Parliament. He did not understand the need for a condonation of anything.
Mr Bhamjee said that the proposal was extremely dangerous. Regulations were subordinate legislation and could not supersede the enabling legislation. There were instances where Committees had rejected clauses only for those clauses to resurface by way of Regulations. This was extremely dangerous and meant that legislative ethos would be brought into question.
Mr Davidson said the clause did not make sense. In terms of the provision the Executive authority could make regulations. Regulations and instructions could prescribe that prior approval of the Executive authority should be obtained. It seemed like the Executive authority would be talking to itself. The Speaker and the Chairperson constituted the Executive authority. One would assume that the Authority would only consult itself when making the Regulations. Who else was it supposed to consult?
Ms Fubbs struggled to understand the clause. Regulations and instructions would not be inconsistent with the Bill. Why would one need a departure if the Regulations and instructions would not be inconsistent with the Bill?
Mr Moloto said that all regulations would be approved by Parliament and the deviations would also be approved by Parliament. He did not understand what was going on.
The Chairperson said that the view of the Committee was that the suggestion should not be allowed.
Mr Benjamin said that the Committee was making a mountain out of a molehill. There was no question that this did not enable any action that was contrary to the Bill or any other Act. All it did was to allow for a situation in which, for instance, there was a situation wherein political parties had to apply for funding for their constituency offices by 15 May and a party submitted its application on the 16th of May. There might be very good grounds as to why the application was not submitted on time. The Executive authority should be able to condone such a deviation if there were good grounds for doing so. The Executive authority would be forced to reject the late application should this provision be rejected.
The Chairperson asked if there was an equivalent provision in legislation like the PFMA.
Mr Benjamin replied that Treasury submission provided that there was an equivalent provision in the PFMA.
Mr Bhamjee said that the example given would go down as an irregular expenditure that could be regularised. One could argue that there was an emergency and the Executive authority had to use his discretion. One should not create precedence and actually provide for it in the Bill. It was normally assumed that Regulations were made in good faith but it was often the case to find provisions that went against the grain of the enabling legislation. It was important to ensure that check and balances were put in place. Regulations were legislation and could be used to do a whole range of things. The Committee should carefully apply its mind to the issue and should be convinced that this was a proper route to take.
The Committee flagged the proposal for further discussion.
Mr Barberton said that Treasury had submitted that a similar provision as contained in section 40(4)(a) of the PFMA should also be included in the Bill. This proposal was covered under clause 27 of the Bill.
Mr B Mnguni (ANC) that the provision in the PFMA was more prescriptive than clause 27 of the Bill.
Mr Barberton said that the Bill was informed by the status of Parliament as an independent body. It was not prescriptive in the sense that Parliament should submit cash flow projections by certain dates.
Mr Barberton said that another proposal was that paragraph (b) of the definition of overspending should allow for virement as authorised by clause 19 of the Bill. This was consistent with the definition of overspending in the PFMA where virement was not regarded as overspending. He recommended that the proposal should be included in the Bill. There was also a concern around the definition of unauthorised expenditure. The current definition as contained in the Bill sought to make any expenditure of any of Parliament's funds that was not in accordance with the objectives for which they were approved unauthorised expenditure. Treasury was of the view that the word "authorise" only applied to funds that were appropriated from the National Revenue Fund. It did not cover the expenditure of funds that were approved for expenditure by Parliament and should not apply to Parliament's own funds or donor funds received and spent by Parliament.
He was of the view that the intention of extending the definition to cover all expenditure by Parliament was that in the budget process Parliament approved the funds for particular purposes. This involved two processes. The first was the appropriation of funds from the National Revenue Fund and the second was the approval of funds that were already in Parliament's bank account. The way of overcoming this was to use a word different to 'unauthorised' or to use a composite term such as "unauthorised and unapproved expenditure".
The Chairperson said that Treasury had submitted that donor Funding should be dealt with in accordance with the Reconstruction and Development Programme Fund Act, 1998 (Act no. 79 of 1998).
Mr Barberton replied that the drafting team had not yet looked at the Reconstruction and Development Programme Fund Act (RDP Fund Act) and therefore could not comment on the submission.
Mr Bhamjee said that the Bill was trying to sanction the use of moneys that went into the banks of Parliament. There was a need to understand the contents of the Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan should give an indication of how much money would come in terms of the appropriation and donor funding. A lot would depend on the proposed Joint Committee playing its oversight role when the Strategic Plan was presented to ensure that all allocations went to the right projects.
Ms Fubbs said that she did not know the RDP Fund Act that well. She was aware of legislatures having to "return" excess or surplus funds that had not been spent to the Revenue Account. Donor funds went into the legislatures' accounts because they were not received from the Revenue Account. She wondered how the interest on donor funds was separated from interest on money from the Revenue Account.
Mr Mnguni said that usually there were conditions attached to donor funds. There would be no case of unauthorised expenditure should Parliament comply with the conditions. It would get in touch with and account to the donors should it deviate from the conditions.
Mr Barberton referred the Committee to the definition of unauthorised expenditure as contained in the Bill. The intention was to define instance where officials had spent money in a manner that was not authorised or in line with donor agreements. One was trying to identify instances wherein officials who be considered to have acted out of line. The issue raised by Treasury was around the word 'unauthorised'. The feeling was that extending the definition of unauthorised to cover approved and donor funding was inappropriate. The Committee should look for an alternative word to unauthorised or simply define the word for the purposes of this Bill.
Mr Moloto agreed with Mr Barberton on the point that the Committee could simply provide for a definition of 'unauthorised' for the purposes of the Bill. The intention was good and people should account for all moneys received.
Mr Davidson wondered if the Committee agreed with Treasury's comment about the RDP Fund Act. Should the Act have any interaction with donor funds? He was of the view that it should not. The most appropriate way of dealing with the matter was to expand the definition of 'unauthorised expenditure'.
Ms P Mokoto (ANC) said that the issue was unauthorised expenditure and not donor funding. The definition of unauthorised expenditure was very clear and the Committee was only required to relate it to donor funds. Parliament should account for all funds it had received. The Committee should look at the RDP Fund Act to get more clarity on the proposal by Treasury.
Mr Barberton said that perhaps the Committee was dealing with a vacuum that existed within government. Government did not actually account to Parliament on how it had spent donor funds. The funds were listed in the Annual Reports but there was no actual accountability regarding them. The definition of unauthorised expenditure would push the boundaries of accountability. This was good and should possibly be looked at when amending the PPFMA. The definition of unauthorised expenditure as contained in the PFMA should be reviewed.
He said that the next issue was the proposal that the words "in material respects" should be deleted in the definition of standards for generally recognised accounting practice. The main issue was compliance with accounting standards.
Mr Barberton said that Treasury had submitted that clause 17 of the Bill should be deleted. The current provision in section 29 of the PFMA was adequate and applicable and should not be repeated in the Bill. He agreed with the proposal.
In relation to clause 19 of the Bill, Treasury had argued that the current provision in the PFMA was impractical. Savings should be used subject to approval by the executive authority. Clause 19 was intended to govern the movement of funds between one sub-programme to another. The management of Parliament would be allowed to make certain adjustments in cases where there was underspending in one programme and overspending in another. There was a restriction as to the extent to which the adjustments could be made. Funds appropriated for particular purposes could not be shifted. Treasury was indicating that provisions of this nature had been found to be impractical in the PFMA and had resulted in funds being returned to the National Revenue Fund even though they could have been used appropriately. Treasury had suggested that it should be possible to shift the kinds of funds mentioned in the clause but only with the express authority of the executive authority.
The Chairperson wondered if the clause was put in place in order to align the Bill with the PFMA. It is was the case then the Committee would have to carefully apply its mind to it especially given that the PFMA was in the process of being amended.
Mr Bhamjee said that the Strategic Plan contained plans for the future. It was on this basis that the National Treasury would support a Department's request or budget. There would be something wrong with planning should the Department ended up with a surplus. The Strategic Plan was introduced to ensure that there was accountability and that the Executive was not given too much discretion. He did not support the proposal.
Mr Moloto said that he would prefer deferring the matter to people who were responsible for the implementation of the PFMA.
Ms Fubbs said that it would be helpful to have some deliberations on the matter. The Bill would probably be amended over time. The PFMA would be amended but the Committee also wanted the process on the Bill to go forward. The PFMA was a financial management framework but the Committee could still prepare its own clause. She conceded that the Committee's provision might not be as robust as the amendment to the PFMA would be but at least the Committee would have taken account to some of the problems raised. The Committee could not wait for the PFMA amendments.
Mr Barberton said that the proposal was not that the executive authority should be given unfettered decision making powers over the use of the particular funds. It would still be bound by sub-clauses (1) and (2). The money could only be used to defray expenses in another main division of the Vote. The executive authority would still be allowed to transfer only 8% of the funds. Planning was not a precise science and allowing an 8% level of flexibility was still within the normal margins of management and did not show bad planning by any means. Circumstance that obtained when drawing the plans might differ to circumstances that would obtain when implementing them. He agreed with Treasury that some degree of flexibility was required. The proposal that the transfer should be made with the express approval of the executive authority meant that it was not simply the decision of the accounting officer.
Mr Bhamjee asked what the definition of the express authority of the executive authority was.
Mr Barberton replied this would, at the minimum, require written authority so that there would be a paper trail.
The Committee agreed that it would seek more clarity from Treasury before deciding on the matter.
Mr Barberton said that when clauses 20 and 21 where drafted, the drafting team was under the impression that Parliament operated under the same regime with government departments and that unspent moneys had to be returned to the National Revenue Fund. Treasury had indicated that this was not the case and that any payments from the Fund in relation to direct charges were made against actual expenditure. In other words in was a reverse process. Treasury proposed that clauses 20and 21 should be deleted. He disagreed with the proposal and was of the view that the framework should be revised. The provisions should be redrafted to ensure that the current situation regarding unspent appropriated funds was fixed in legislation. The provisions should require that Parliament should first approve the use of such unspent funds. The unspent funds would have to be redefined because they were no longer appropriated funds but paid into Parliament's bank accounts. They would then become part of Parliament's own resources.
Mr Bhamjee asked what would happen should Parliament have a surplus each year. Would the amount be allowed to simply increase?
Mr Moloto said that the Joint Committee would have to do its work.
Mr Davidson said Treasury would take the surplus into account in future appropriations to Parliament.
Mr Mnguni said that clause 16(b) provided that Parliament would have to approve the funds from time to time.
Mr Bhamjee said that one was looking at the autonomy of Parliament. What would happen in cases where Parliament was doing its work properly but still making savings? Should it be punished for being prudent and making savings? It would be unwise for Parliament not to take maximum amount of money from Treasury. There should be a provision to deal with how to account for surplus.
The Chairperson said that the normal process of the approval of rollovers should be followed. One could not have an undefined surplus. There would be a surplus because Parliament or a Department had not spent on a certain programme for reasons that would justify the failure to spend and the roll over.
Mr Davidson wondered if the clause was saying what the Chairperson had said. He agreed with the question raised by Mr Bhamjee. Could one allow the amount to increase beyond reasonable proportions?
Mr Barberton said that the current situation was untenable. Funds were appropriated, paid into Parliament's bank accounts and remained unspent at the end of the financial year. There was no process by which the administration of Parliament needed to get permission to spend those funds in the following year. Parliament approved rollovers in the case of all other government Departments or institutions but this was not the case in relation to its own administration because the arrangement was informal. The proposed clause 20 sought to formalise the current situation and to change the definition of those funds from appropriated funds to funds from own revenue so that Parliament would not have to appropriate but approve them when it wanted to use them.
On the issue of accumulating surpluses, the process by which the Speaker and the Minister agreed on what the budget of Parliament should take Parliament's own revenue into account. This would include money generated through selling various items and use of venues for other purposes. The surplus would simply be another source of own revenue that would also be taken into consideration. The likelihood of having a pool of money swimming around in Parliament's bank accounts was very unlikely. Parliament had needs that were not being met and national interests dictated that funds were used optimally.
Mr Mnguni agreed with the views expressed by Mr Barberton.
Mr Bhamjee asked if the clause would prevent the possibility of having a bottomless pit of surpluses. Would there be checks and balances to ensure that the surplus did not accumulate beyond reasonable proportions?
The Chairperson said that the presenter had indicated that surpluses would be taken into account when determining Parliament's budget for the next financial year.
Mr Moloto said that there was a need for a strong Committee that would decide on the budget of Parliament and hold it accountable. This is where the real checks and balances would be.
Mr Barberton said that Treasury was of the view that the word "indemnity" should be deleted from clause 26(1)(b). This word also appeared in the PFMA but Treasury had to issue Regulations in order to allow for exceptions for a similar provision in the Act because it was too restrictive. He anticipated that the provision contained in the PFMA would be revised during the process of amending the Act. The clause provided that one might not sign a document that had an indemnity in it. The point that was being made was that indemnities worked both ways: they could be to the benefit of Parliament.
Mr Davidson asked how the word staff was defined for the purposes of clause 26(1(a). Did this include Members of Parliament? It might well be that Parliament might wish to give housing allowances or approve a car allowance scheme for its staff.
The Chairperson said that Treasury had not made any submission on clause 26(1)(a). He appealed to members to focus only on the submissions made. Members would have an opportunity to raise questions on all clauses at a later stage.
Mr Barberton said that Treasury had also submitted that clause 26(3)(b) should be limited to operational lease agreements. In terms of the standards for generally recognised accounting practice finance leases was classified as a form of borrowing. The Committee agreed with the proposal.
Mr Barberton said that clause 36(3) was a controversial provision that was also contained in the PFMA. Treasury was of the view that the current provision in the PFMA did not achieve its objectives. The intention was that requiring the Executive authority to put something down in writing would serve as a break on the desire to spend money outside the parameters of the budget. Treasury had found that Accounting officers simply regarded this as a formality. Treasury was proposing that the Bill should contain a slightly more restrictive conditions in order to put in place more effective brakes on the desire to spend outside the parameters of the budget. It was proposed that one should define the kind of expenditure the Executive authority might incur with reference to something like "unforeseeable or unavoidable expenditure". One could also put a mechanism in place for reporting such expenditure to the oversight mechanism as soon as possible. The drafters were working on a new wording of the clause. In essence it would provide that the Executive authority might not recommend expenditure other than expenditure related to direct instructions from Parliament. The Executive authority would be responsible for tabling the written instructions in Parliament.
Mr Bhamjee said that this should not be a regular practice. He asked why there was no duty placed on the Chief Executive Officer to record such things so that the oversight Committee could clearly see what had happened.
Mr Barberton replied that in terms of the PFMA it was the Accounting officer who had to submit the written instructions to the National Treasury and the Auditor General (AG). This placed some pressure on the Accounting officer. He proposed that the duty should be moved to the Executive authority since they were the ones making the decisions. There would always be tensions between the Executive authority and the Accounting officer should the duty be placed of the Accounting officer. The Executive authority would say to the Accounting officer: "are you really going to submit this to Parliament? Are you going to place me in a bad light by submit this to Parliament"? Placing the duty on the Executive authority would mitigate the tensions.
Treasury had also argued that the report that assessed the performance of Parliament's administration during the first half of the financial year and recommendations whether an adjustments budget might be necessary should be aligned with the process to finalise the adjustments budget. The question was how did the recommendations from the report feed into the adjustments budget. The submission was related to clause 16(2) and could be adequately be addressed in that clause.
Mr Barberton said that clause 52 required all financial interests of all parliamentary employees to be disclosed in the annual financial statements. Treasury had pointed out that this was probably an impractical arrangement and suggested that it should be restricted to the Accounting officer and senior managers. He supported the proposal.
Mr Moloto agreed with the proposal. Even institutions like the Financial Services Board reported on interests of senior managers and the Chief Executive Officer.
Mr Barberton said that Treasury was of the view that the notes to the annual financial statements should include particulars of all unauthorised expenditure and not only material expenditure. The question was whether the notes should give all particulars of the unauthorised expenditure or only material expenditure. There would be a need to define "material" more closely should the Committee decide to focus on material expenditure only. He agreed that the total amount of unauthorised expenditure should be disclosed.
Mr Bhamjee said that the Committee should be guided by the dictates of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) and the AG.
Mr Benjamin said that the problem could be solved by prescribing a minimum amount in Regulations so that it could be adjusted easily. The term "material" was difficult to work with and there would always be questions as to what was material.
Mr Barberton said that there was a precedence for the use of the word material in the PFMA. He referred to section 55 of the Act. He disagreed that the word material should be deleted.
Mr Bhamjee asked what was the meaning of express authority in the context of the PFMA.
Mr Barberton replied that this would, at the minimum, require written authority so that there would be a paper trail.
He said that Treasury had also made a submission on the wording of clause 57(3). The issue was who was allowed to change financial statements. He agreed that nobody (including the AG) should be allowed to amend the financial statements after they had been audited. Treasury was also of the view that the Annual Report, which included the audited financial statements and the audit report, should be referred to both the Committee on Public Accounts and the Joint Committee. He agreed with this proposal. The current provisions of the Bill provided that only the financial statements and the audit report had to be submitted to SCOPA.
The Committee agreed with the submission.
Mr Barberton said that Treasury was of the view that the requirement that the executive authority should approve the regulations might be impractical. Draft regulations should be published for public comment in the National Government Gazette before their enactment. This submission struck at the heart of what the Committee would want the proposed Joint Committee to do. Did the Committee want the Committee to be responsible for approving the Regulations issued by the Executive authority or should there be an alternative mechanism in terms of which the Regulations would simply be published for comment in a prescribed document?
Mr Moloto said that Parliament had also set precedence in the form of a document called the L19. He felt that Regulations should be approved by Parliament. The Committee agreed with Mr Moloto.
Mr Barberton said that there was no indication of where the Regulations should be published. Publication of the Regulations was important because the Regulations also impacted upon people who supplied services to Parliament. They should be accessible to the general public.
The Chairperson said that the Regulations could also be published in the Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports (ATC) in Parliament. He wondered if it was necessary to specifically provide that it should be tabled in the ATC because the name of the document could change at any time. The Regulations should be tabled in Parliament and the government gazette.
Mr Bhamjee said that the integrity of all Members of Parliament (MPs) would be brought into question should they not be informed in terms of the actual content of the Regulations. He hoped that all MPs would become familiar with the Bill and Regulations that would be made under it.
Mr Barberton said that there were also proposals in relation to clauses 65 and 66. The clauses dealt with criminal proceedings and misconduct. The application of these provisions should be extended to staff who had financial management responsibilities in terms of clause 9 of the Bill. This was a logical extension and a drafting error that had to be corrected.
He said that Treasury agreed with the norms and standards contained in Schedule one. However, they wanted to extend them to issues of form rather than substance. At the moment the norms and standards dealt with principles of good financial management. The suggestion by Treasury was that certain norms should be drawn up to ensure that the way in which the principles were given effect was specified. In other words they were suggesting that there should be an Accounting officer. The question was how detailed should be the norms and standards. There was no objection to increasing the level of detail but the problem was that the list given by Treasury was not comprehensive.
The Chairperson said that the Committee should apply its mind on the issue. The extent of the norms and standards should not have the unintended consequences of legislating for provincial legislatures.
Mr Mnguni said that the Committee had once decided to remove all issues that were related to provinces because of the impact such reference could have on the constitutionality of the Bill. He suggested that the Committee should stick to the original discussion of taking out reference to provincial legislatures.
Mr Moloto asked the presenter to refresh the Committee's mind of the decisions taken in relation to legislating for provinces.
Mr Barberton said that the decision was not to create a financial management framework for provinces or that not the entire Bill should be applicable to them. The Bill should rather specify financial norms and standards that provinces would be expected to follow and to keep the norms at a general level to ensure that there was no infringement of their independence. One should look at the existing norms prescribed in the Schedule and the suggestions put forward by Treasury in order to evaluate if they were overly prescriptive or of a general nature.
Mr Moloto was more inclined to agreeing with the views of Treasury but said the Committee should be careful when addressing the issue so that it did not infringe on the independence of provinces.
Mr Barberton suggested that the Committee should proceed to deal with support for political parties.
The Chairperson said that the Committee Clerk had just circulated a policy document on allowances to political parties. The Committee had not yet studied the document and still had to verify the official position of the document.
Mr Barberton said that the document had been signed off by the Speaker and Secretary to Parliament. He was of the view that it had been approved.
Mr Moloto felt that the Committee should address the matter at a later stage. The effective date of the document was not even specified. Did political parties know about it and had they agreed to it? The Chairperson appealed to members to allow the presenter to proceed with the submission.
Mr Barberton said that there were different types of party funding. There was support for leaders of the opposition parties in Parliament and support for constituency offices. The proposal was that the Bill should not restrict Parliament in the kind of support it could give to political parties. The most important thing was to regulate how parties were supported. The proposed clause (a replacement of clauses 32 and 33) sought to outline principles and process that were essential to ensure that all funds given to political parties were regulated in a proper manner.
Mr Moloto said that the proposed clause had omitted the role of the AG. The initial draft had provided that the AG should audit the books of the political parties that had received funds from Parliament. The AG should report to Parliament on the audit outcomes and recover the costs of the audit from Parliament and not the parties audited.
The Chairperson said that political parties should also be given an opportunity to comment on this matter.
Mr Moloto said that the AG should audit the funds in relation to the policy on party allowances. The policy should be developed in consultation with the political parties.
The Chairperson said that the Committee should investigate if the document had the full support of all parties. He said that the Committee would deal with submissions from the Secretary to Parliament tomorrow.
The meeting was adjourned.
No related
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B74-2008 - Financial Management of Parliament Bill


text:
Clinical value of tone burst vestibular evoked myogenic potentials at threshold in acute and stable Ménière's disease
Osei-Lah, V; Ceranic, B; Luxon, LM; (2008) Clinical value of tone burst vestibular evoked myogenic potentials at threshold in acute and stable Ménière's disease. Journal of Laryngology and Otology , 122 (5) 452 - 457. 10.1017/S0022215107009152.
S0022215107009152.pdf
Introduction: The objectives of this preliminary, prospective, cohort study were to ascertain the characteristics of vestibular evoked myogenic potentials at threshold levels in two groups of Ménière's disease patients – acute and stable – and to identify whether vestibular evoked myogenic potentials can provide any specific, objective information to distinguish acute from stable Ménière's disease. Subjects and methods: The study was based at a tertiary neuro-otology centre. Twenty adult patients who fulfilled the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery1 criteria for Ménière's disease were divided into two groups: 11 patients with acute Ménière's disease and nine patients with stable Ménière's disease. Eighteen healthy adult volunteers served as controls. All subjects underwent vestibular evoked myogenic potential testing with ipsilateral, short tone burst stimuli at 500 Hz, as well as pure tone audiometry. The patients also underwent caloric testing. Results: Vestibular evoked myogenic potentials were present in all controls, and were present in 65 per cent of patients but absent in 35 per cent. The mean absolute threshold (Tvestibular evoked myogenic potential) ± standard deviation in normal controls was 116 ± 7.7 dBSPL; this did not differ statistically from that in patients, nor did it differ between acute and stable Ménière's disease. The p13/n23 latencies at the threshold levels in the normal, acute and stable groups (mean ± standard deviation) were respectively: 15 ± 2.2 ms/23.0 ± 2.5 ms; 15.7 ± 0.9 ms/23.7 ± 0.9 ms; and 15.3 ± 2.0 ms/24.2 ± 1.9 ms. The mean interaural amplitude difference ratio (IAD) ± standard deviation was significantly higher in the stable group compared with the acute group (0.54 ± 0.33 vs −0.15 ± 0.22; p = 0.007) and with the controls (0.54 ± 0.33 vs 0.1 ± 0.22; p = 0.05). Conclusions: The parameter that best differentiated acute from stable Ménière's disease at threshold was the interaural amplitude difference ratio. Therefore, this parameter may be used to monitor the clinical course of Ménière's disease.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022215107009152
Copyright Cambridge University Press 2008
Meniere's disease, Evoked potentials, Vestibular function tests, Endolymphatic hydrops, Frequency, Nerve, Pathology, Responses, Origin
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > The Ear Institute

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
[English](./README.md)

# KRAlertController

[![Version](https://img.shields.io/cocoapods/v/KRAlertController.svg?style=flat)](http://cocoapods.org/pods/KRAlertController)
[![License](https://img.shields.io/cocoapods/l/KRAlertController.svg?style=flat)](http://cocoapods.org/pods/KRAlertController)
[![Platform](https://img.shields.io/cocoapods/p/KRAlertController.svg?style=flat)](http://cocoapods.org/pods/KRAlertController)
[![Download](https://img.shields.io/cocoapods/dt/KRAlertController.svg?style=flat)](http://cocoapods.org/pods/KRAlertController)
[![Carthage compatible](https://img.shields.io/badge/Carthage-compatible-4BC51D.svg?style=flat)](https://github.com/Carthage/Carthage)
[![CI Status](http://img.shields.io/travis/krimpedance/KRAlertController.svg?style=flat)](https://travis-ci.org/krimpedance/KRAlertController)

`KRAlertController`はピュアSwiftの綺麗で使いやすいアラートコントローラーです.

<img src="https://github.com/krimpedance/Resources/blob/master/KRAlertController/styles.png" height=300>

## 必要環境
- iOS 10.0+
- Xcode 10.0+
- Swift 4.2+

## デモ
`DEMO/`以下にあるサンプルプロジェクトから確認してください.

または, [appetize.io](https://appetize.io/app/jc2066a1jncndy2uet7wkp0ykg)にてシュミレートしてください.

## インストール
KRAlertControllerは[CocoaPods](http://cocoapods.org)と[Carthage](https://github.com/Carthage/Carthage)で
インストールすることができます.

```ruby
# Podfile
pod "KRAlertController"
```

```ruby
# Cartfile
github "Krimpedance/KRAlertController"
```

## 使い方
(`/Demo`以下のサンプルを見てみてください)

**大まかな使い方はUIAlertControllerと同じです.**

まず, `KRAlertController`をインポートします.

シンプルなアラートの表示

```Swift
KRAlertController(title: "Title", message: "message")
  .addCancel()
  .addAction("OK") { action, textFields in
    print("OK")
  }
  .show()
```

### イニシャライザ
```Swift
init(title: String?, message: String?, style: KRAlertControllerStyle = .Alert)
```

### アラートの種類
KRAlertControllerには7種類のアラートがあります.

それぞれ色やアイコンが異なり, 用途によって使い分けます.
`icon`を`false`にすると, アイコンを非表示にできます.

`presentingVC`には表示するViewControllerを設定します.
未設定の場合は, `keyWindow`の最前面のViewControllerに表示されます.

```Swift
func show(presentingVC: UIViewController? = nil, animated: Bool = true, completion: (() -> ())? = nil)
func showSuccess(icon icon: Bool, presentingVC: UIViewController? = nil, animated: Bool = true, completion: (() -> ())? = nil)
func showInformation(icon icon: Bool, presentingVC: UIViewController? = nil, animated: Bool = true, completion: (() -> ())? = nil)
func showWarning(icon icon: Bool, presentingVC: UIViewController? = nil, animated: Bool = true, completion: (() -> ())? = nil)
func showError(icon icon: Bool, presentingVC: UIViewController? = nil, animated: Bool = true, completion: (() -> ())? = nil)
func showEdit(icon icon: Bool, presentingVC: UIViewController? = nil, animated: Bool = true, completion: (() -> ())? = nil)
func showAuthorize(icon icon: Bool, presentingVC: UIViewController? = nil, animated: Bool = true, completion: (() -> ())? = nil)
```

```Swift
// Example
alert.showSuccess(true)
alert.showWarning(true, presentingVC: self, animated: false) {
  print("Showed warning alert!")
}
```

## ライブラリに関する質問等
バグや機能のリクエストがありましたら, 気軽にコメントしてください.

## リリースノート
+ 3.1.0 :
  - Swift 4.2 に対応

+ 3.0.1 :
  - Swift 4.1 に対応

+ 3.0.0 :
  - Xcode9, Swift4 に対応

## ライセンス
KRAlertControllerはMITライセンスに準拠しています.

詳しくは`LICENSE`ファイルをみてください.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


How Do Consumers Say They'd Respond to Positive Customer Experiences?
Some 82% of consumers have had a positive experience with a company recently, finds Verint in a survey of 18,038 respondents across 9 countries. Consumers were most likely to attribute a positive experience to the company dealing with their request quickly, while a sizable proportion also said that the company understood their issue and history.
PepsiCo Talks About How to be Disruptive.
Authenticity and Design: How Consumers Feel About Online Content.
Disruption: It's Not for Everybody.
As marketing has become a measurable science, and dollars have flowed from other parts of the business to the CMO, so too has the pressure to innovate grown.


NuGet Gallery | Packages matching Tags:"CF"
34 packages returned for Tags:"CF"
Provides common types for libraries that support runtime serialization. Replaced by NETStandard.WindowsCE package. Commonly Used Types: System.SerializableAttribute System.Runtime.Serialization.ISerializable Mimics the package System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.


text:
Deputies Spread Holiday Cheer by Handing out $100 Bills to Drivers in Madera
Push to Accelerate Mustang Captures Draws Fire in Congress
Walters: New Year, Old Confounding Issues for California
Anti-Dyer Video Is Out. What Does Former Police Chief Say?
U.S. health officials are telling people to avoid romaine lettuce grown in Salinas. (AP File)
Don't Eat Romaine Grown in Salinas, U.S. Officials Say
NEW YORK — U.S. health officials on Friday told people to avoid romaine lettuce grown in Salinas, California, because of another food poisoning outbreak.
"It's very, very disturbing. Very frustrating all around." — Trevor Suslow of the Produce Marketing Association
The warning comes almost exactly one year after a similar outbreak led to a blanket warning about tainted romaine.
The officials urged people not to eat the leafy green if the label doesn't say where it was grown. They also urged supermarkets and restaurants not to serve or sell the lettuce, unless they're sure it's grown elsewhere.
Officials say the warning applies to all types of romaine from the Salinas region, include whole heads, hearts of romaine and pre-cut salad mixes that have romaine.
Romaine Has Been Tied to Repeated Food Poisoning Outbreaks
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating an E. coli outbreak that has sickened 40 people in more than a dozen states. The agency said its inquiry led investigators to farms in Salinas and that they were looking for the contamination source.
Romaine has been tied to repeated food poisoning outbreaks, including the one right before Thanksgiving last year. It's not clear exactly why romaine keeps sickening people, but food safety experts note the difficulty of eliminating risk for produce grown in open fields and eaten raw.
Californiacontaminationfood poisoninginvestigatorsoutbreakromaine lettuceSalinas
Think Before You Post. It Can Change Your Life Forever.
Dog Befriends Baby Giraffe After Abandoned in South Africa


The research group is specialized in the design, synthesis and study of the structure-activity relationship of conformationally constrained analogues of endogenous amino acids (glutamate, aspartate, GABA and glutamine).
a) New ligands of GABA and Glu receptors as anticonvulsant and neuroprotective agents.
d) Inhibitors of glutamine-dependent enzymes involved in amino acid and nucleotide biosynthesis.
Within the framework of a project aimed at the discovery of new chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of parasitic diseases, such as African trypanosomiasis, malaria and leishmaniosis, we develop covalent inhibitors able to selectively inactivate enzymes crucial for parasite replication and survival in the human host.
The research group is engaged in the development of flow-based processes, combined with the use of immobilized reagents, scavengers and catalysts, for the purification-free synthesis of libraries of compounds and for the multi-step synthesis of complex biologically active molecules. This modern technology enables a significant reduction of reaction time and costs and is more environmentally friendly due to minimization of waste production.
We also exploit this methodology for the kinetic resolution of chiral substrates using biocatalysts (polymer-supported enzymes or whole-cells).
The research group studies the use of chromatographic techniques for the determination of the enantiomeric composition of chiral ligands and for the separation on a preparative scale of pure enantiomers starting from racemic mixtures.
The research projects outlined above are realized in collaboration with the following institutions: Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology – University of Copenhagen; Johns Hopkins University; Cornell University; Glasgow Biomedical Research Centre; Istituto Mario Negri; University of Milano, Messina, Pavia, Parma, Modena, Napoli and Siena.


Ameriflex is recognized as one of the nation's largest independent administrators of consumer-driven health plans, including flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts, health reimbursement arrangements, dependent care accounts, and commuter reimbursement accounts. Built organically and with an unwavering commitment to sustainable growth that puts the best interests of its clients first, Ameriflex continues to reinvest in smart, integrated user tools and technologies, best-in-class service, and advocacy efforts—all geared toward reducing healthcare costs and simplifying the healthcare experience for the growing population of partners, employers, and individual consumers it serves.
Ameriflex provides proprietary technology that brings consumer-driven benefits to clients nationwide.


Property Location Located in Albufeira, Alfagar Village is by the ocean, minutes from Santa Eulalia Beach, and close to Maria Luisa Beach. This beach aparthotel is within close proximity of Albufeira Bullring and Oura Beach.Rooms Make yourself at home in one of the 210 guestrooms, featuring kitchenettes with refrigerators and microwaves. Rooms have private balconies. Satellite television is provided for your entertainment. Conveniences include safes and separate sitting areas.Rec, Spa, Premium Amenities Don't miss out on the many recreational opportunities, including a complimentary water park, outdoor tennis courts, and an indoor pool. This aparthotel also features complimentary wireless Internet access, an arcade/game room, and gift shops/newsstands.Dining Satisfy your appetite at one of the aparthotel's 3 restaurants. Relax with your favorite drink at a bar/lounge or a poolside bar. Breakfast is available daily for a fee.Business, Other Amenities Featured amenities include high-speed wired Internet access surcharge, a 24-hour front desk, and multilingual staff. A roundtrip airport shuttle is provided for a surcharge available 24 hours, and free self parking is available onsite.


text:
Tag: Redline
Redline Film Celebrates 10th Anniversary With Illustration, Screening
September 24, 2020 Matt Schley
Redline, possibly the most intense anime film ever made, turns 10 this year. Takeshi Koike's sci-fi film about a no-holds-barred race in the future didn't make much of a dent at the Japanese box office, but it's become a cult favorite over the years, with …Read more »
Redline [Anime Review]
December 6, 2019 Sean O'Mara
It's a terrible cliché, but films like Redline don't come around very often. The popularity of sci-fi anime films seems to have died out with the rise of digital animation, but while Redline succeeds in appealing to old-school fans, it has plenty to offer newer fans as well. Takeshi …Read more »
Takeshi Koike's Redline Streams for Free on YouTube
Redline, one of the most raucous, eye-smashing films of the last, well, ever, has been made available for streaming on YouTube at no charge. In celebration, we're posting this feature on the film, first featured in the magazine back in 2010: Once upon a time, …Read more »
SMAP's Takuya Kimura to Transition to Anime Voice Acting
Kimura played Howl in 2004's Howl's Moving Castle . Come 2017, the members of Japanese boy band SMAP are going to find themselves with some spare time on their hands. The group, which has been together for 25 years, is set to split up December …Read more »
Takahiko Abiru Interview
September 22, 2014 Jason Moses
Fans of the currently airing TV adaptation of Hunter x Hunter had a huge surprise in store for them this past year when Takahiko Abiru, one of the main animation directors on the show, started uploading scans of some of the more than 18,000 frames …Read more »
Takeshi Koike to Direct New Lupin Film
Hey man, let's face it, as good as we want those yearly Lupin TV specials to be, they're usually pretty mediocre affairs. So we were planning to go ahead the latest Lupin film – that is, until it was revealed the director would be none …Read more »
Production I.G's Hal: Anime Film Review
June 11, 2013 Matt Schley
A contradictory scene in rural Japan: by the bank of a river, a master and his apprentices dye traditional Japanese fabric by hand, the way it's been done for hundreds of years. In the river, a human-shaped robot plays in the water, trying to catch …Read more »
Tickets Available for December Redline Anime Screening in LA
Looks like tickets are finally available for US theatrical showings of the highly anticipated Redline —from MADHOUSE and director Takeshi Koike—and those of you in or around Los Angeles can go ahead and pre-order some of your own! Showings at LA's Downtown Independent start on …Read more »
Manga UK Posts English-Dubbed Redline Anime Clip
October 24, 2011 Joseph Luster
Still waiting to watch the Madhouse-animated and Takeshi Koike-directed film Redline ? So are a lot of people, and Manga UK aims to titillate us in advance of its home video release via a fresh English-dubbed racing clip. Hit the gas below: Redline can finally …Read more »
Trava: Fist Planet
December 3, 2010 Daryl Surat
There is a small, albeit significant, minority of anime fans out there for whom the feature film Redline encapsulates the spirit of what they wished most anime produced was like. I consider myself one of them, which is why it's that much more crushing that …Read more »
LA Animation Festival Will Premiere Redline and Midori-ko
If you're looking for a place to catch the Los Angeles premiere of Takeshi Koike's Redline , look no further than this year's Los Angeles Animation Festival. The festival will screen Redline on December 5, both at 12:15 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., marking the official …Read more »
Mandatory REDLINE Update: New Trailer
It's been a while since we posted a trailer for Takeshi Koike's upcoming film Redline , but that doesn't make us any less excited to check out it out when it finally hits North America. In fact, the trailer is just serving to make the …Read more »
Takeshi Koike's Redline Gets a Full English Trailer
July 14, 2010 Joseph Luster
My, my, my... this is awesome. Directed by Takeshi Koike ( Ninja Scroll ), with Katsuhito Ishii ( The Taste of Tea ) among the writers, Redline is looking every bit as hot as one would imagine in this new full English trailer. The story …Read more »


Main Reference PaperEvent-driven approach for predictive and proactive management of SLA violations in the Cloud of Things, Future Generation Computer Systems, 2018, [Java].
This paper proposes an event-driven-based proactive approach for estimating and handling the SLA violations using the combination of the logic-based reasoning and probabilistic inferencing. The proposed proactive event-driven approach activates the defined rules in order to determine the event that affects QoS variation, and then estimate the SLA violation because of the event using the combination of the logic-based reasoning and probabilistic inferencing.
To predict the SLA violation under uncertain QoS in order to warn the user.
It is necessary to consider the external event along with the internal event for obtaining an effective outcome.
Combining containers and virtual machines to enhance isolation and extend functionality on cloud computing, Future Generation Computer Systems, 2018, [Java/CloudSim].


text:
//// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved

(function () {
    "use strict";

    // System Media Transport Controls
    var systemMediaControls;

    // HTML5 <video> element in this scenario's HTML markup.
    // (This script would also work unmodified with <audio> element;
    // see scenario1.html for details.)
    var player;

    // contains list of media files (as Windows.Storage.StorageFile
    // objects) selected by the user via
    // Windows.Storage.Pickers.FileOpenPicker.pickMultipleFilesAsync()
    var playlist = [];

    // keeps track of current item playing from the playlist.
    var currentItemIndex = 0;

    var isScenario1Active = false;

    var repeatPlaylist = false;

    var positionUpdateTimerId = 0;

    var pausedDueToMute = false;

    var page = WinJS.UI.Pages.define("/html/scenario1.html", {
        ready: function (element, options) {
            isScenario1Active = true;

            // retrieve the SystemMediaTransportControls object, register for its events, and configure it
            // to a disabled state consistent with how this scenario starts off (ie. no media loaded)
            setupSystemMediaTransportControls();

            document.getElementById("sampleHeader").innerHTML = "System media transport controls"

            document.getElementById("pickerButton").addEventListener("click", getFilesWithPicker, false);
            player = document.getElementById("player");
            player.addEventListener("ended", playerEnded, false);
            player.addEventListener("playing", playerPlaying, false);
            player.addEventListener("pause", playerPaused, false);
            player.addEventListener("error", playerError, false);
        },

        unload: function (element, options) {
            isScenario1Active = false;

            // Because the system media transport control object is associated with the current app view
            // (ie. window), all scenario pages in this sample will be using the same instance. Therefore
            // we need to remove the ButtonPressed event handler specific to this scenario page before
            // user navigates away to another scenario in the sample.
            systemMediaControls.removeEventListener("buttonpressed", systemMediaControlsButtonPressed, false);
            systemMediaControls.removeEventListener("propertychanged", systemMediaControlsPropertyChanged, false);

            systemMediaControls.removeEventListener("playbackratechangerequested", systemMediaControlsPlaybackRateChangeRequested, false);
            systemMediaControls.removeEventListener("playbackpositionchangerequested", systemMediaControlsPlaybackPositionChangeRequested, false);
            systemMediaControls.removeEventListener("autorepeatmodechangerequested", systemMediaControlsAutoRepeatModeChangeRequested, false);

            // Perform other cleanup for this scenario page.
            player.src = null;
            playlist = [];
            currentItemIndex = 0;

            clearInterval(positionUpdateTimerId);
        }
    });

    // Invoked from this Page's "ready" method.  Retrieve and initialize the
    // SystemMediaTransportControls object.
    function setupSystemMediaTransportControls() {
        // Retrieve the SystemMediaTransportControls object associated with the current app view
        // (ie. window).  There is exactly one instance of the object per view, instantiated by
        // the system the first time getForCurrentView() is called for the view.  All subsequent
        // calls to getForCurrentView() from the same view (eg. from different scenario pages in
        // this sample) will return the same instance of the object.
        systemMediaControls = Windows.Media.SystemMediaTransportControls.getForCurrentView();

        // This scenario will always start off with no media loaded, so we will start off disabling the
        // system media transport controls.  Doing so will hide the system UI for media transport controls
        // from being displayed, and will prevent the app from receiving any events such as buttonpressed
        // from it, regardless of the current state of event registrations and button enable/disable states.
        // This makes isEnabled a handy way to turn system media transport controls off and back on, as you
        // may want to do when the user navigates to and away from certain parts of your app.
        systemMediaControls.isEnabled = false;

        // To receive notifications for the user pressing media keys (eg. "Stop") on the keyboard, or
        // clicking/tapping on the equivalent software buttons in the system media transport controls UI,
        // all of the following needs to be true:
        //     1. Register for buttonpressed event on the SystemMediaTransportControls object.
        //     2. isEnabled property must be true to enable SystemMediaTransportControls itself.
        //        [Note: isEnabled is initialized to true when the system instantiates the
        //         SystemMediaTransportControls object for the current app view.]
        //     3. For each button you want notifications from, set the corresponding property to true to
        //        enable the button.  For example, set isPlayEnabled to true to enable the "Play" button
        //        and media key.
        //        [Note: the individual button-enabled properties are initialized to false when the
        //         system instantiates the SystemMediaTransportControls object for the current app view.]
        //
        // Here we'll perform 1, and 3 for the buttons that will always be enabled for this scenario (Play,
        // Pause, Stop).  For 2, we purposely set isEnabled to false to be consistent with the scenario's
        // initial state of no media loaded.  Later in the code where we handle the loading of media
        // selected by the user, we will enable SystemMediaTransportControls.
        systemMediaControls.addEventListener("buttonpressed", systemMediaControlsButtonPressed, false);
        systemMediaControls.addEventListener("propertychanged", systemMediaControlsPropertyChanged, false);

        systemMediaControls.addEventListener("playbackratechangerequested", systemMediaControlsPlaybackRateChangeRequested, false);
        systemMediaControls.addEventListener("playbackpositionchangerequested", systemMediaControlsPlaybackPositionChangeRequested, false);
        systemMediaControls.addEventListener("autorepeatmodechangerequested", systemMediaControlsAutoRepeatModeChangeRequested, false);

        // Note: one of the prerequisites for an app to be allowed to play audio while in background,
        // is to enable handling Play and Pause buttonpressed events from SystemMediaTransportControls.
        systemMediaControls.isPlayEnabled = true;
        systemMediaControls.isPauseEnabled = true;
        systemMediaControls.isStopEnabled = true;
        systemMediaControls.playbackStatus = Windows.Media.MediaPlaybackStatus.closed;
    }

    // For supported audio and video formats for Windows Store apps, see:
    //     http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh986969.aspx
    var supportedAudioFormats = [
        ".3g2", ".3gp2", ".3gp", ".3gpp", ".m4a", ".mp4", ".asf", ".wma", ".aac", ".adt", ".adts", ".mp3", ".wav", ".ac3", ".ec3",
    ];

    var supportedVideoFormats = [
        ".3g2", ".3gp2", ".3gp", ".3gpp", ".m4v", ".mp4v", ".mp4", ".mov", ".m2ts", ".asf", ".wmv", ".avi",
    ];

    // Opens the Windows File Picker to let user select a list of audio or video files
    // to play in the app.
    function getFilesWithPicker() {

        var filePicker = new Windows.Storage.Pickers.FileOpenPicker();
        filePicker.viewMode = Windows.Storage.Pickers.PickerViewMode.list;
        filePicker.suggestedStartLocation = Windows.Storage.Pickers.PickerLocationId.musicLibrary;
        filePicker.commitButtonText = "Play";

        for (var i = 0; i < supportedAudioFormats.length; i++) {
            filePicker.fileTypeFilter.append(supportedAudioFormats[i]);
        }

        for (var j = 0; j < supportedVideoFormats.length; j++) {
            filePicker.fileTypeFilter.append(supportedVideoFormats[j]);
        }

        filePicker.pickMultipleFilesAsync().then(function (selectedFiles) {
            if (selectedFiles.length > 0) {
                WinJS.log && WinJS.log(selectedFiles.length + " file(s) selected", "sample", "status");
                playlist = selectedFiles;

                // Now that we have a playlist ready, allow the user to control media playback via
                // system media transport controls.  We enable it now even if one or more files may
                // turn out unable to load and play, that way the user can still invoke Next/Previous
                // to go to another item in the playlist to try playing.
                systemMediaControls.isEnabled = true;

                // For the design of this sample scenario, we will always automatically start playback after
                // the user has selected new files to play.  Set the HTML5 audio/video element's autoplay
                // attribute to true, so that playback will automatically start after we set a new source on
                // the element.
                player.autoplay = true;
                setNewMediaItem(0);               // Start with first file in the list of picked files.
            } else {
                // user canceled the picker
                WinJS.log && WinJS.log("no files selected", "sample", "status");
            }
        });
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Used to update all position/duration related information to the SystemMediaTransport controls.
    /// Can be used when some state changes (new track, position changed) or periodically (every 5 seconds or so)
    /// to keep the system in sync with this apps playback state.
    /// </summary>
    function updateSmtcPosition() {
        var timelineProperties = new Windows.Media.SystemMediaTransportControlsTimelineProperties();

        // This is a simple scenario that supports seeking, therefore start time and min seek are both 0 and
        // end time and max seek are both the duration. This allows the system to suggest seeking anywhere in the track.
        // Position is obviously the current media elements position.

        // Note: More complex scenarios may alter more of these values, such as only allowing seeking in a section of the content,
        // by setting min and max seek differently to start and end. For other scenarios such as live playback, end time may be
        // updated frequently too.
        timelineProperties.startTime = 0;
        timelineProperties.minSeekTime = 0;

        if (player != null) {
            // The below properties are in seconds, multiply them to make them milliseconds.
            timelineProperties.position = player.currentTime * 1000;
            timelineProperties.maxSeekTime = player.duration * 1000;
            timelineProperties.endTime = player.duration * 1000;
        }

        systemMediaControls.updateTimelineProperties(timelineProperties);
    }

    // Updating SystemMediaTransportControls' playbackStatus property with accurate information is important;
    // for example, it determines whether the system media transport controls UI will show a play vs pause
    // software button, and whether hitting the play/pause toggle key on the keyboard will translate to a
    // Play vs a Pause buttonpressed event.
    //
    // To update playbackStatus accurately, listen for events like "playing" and "pause" from the HTML5
    // audio/video element itself.  Even if you implement your own UI controls for your media player instead
    // of using the default transport controls of the element, listening for events from the element is still
    // recommended.  Windows supports scenarios such as streaming media from the element to a networked device
    // (eg. TV) selected by the user from Devices charm (ie. "Play To"), in which case the user may pause and
    // resume media streaming using a TV remote or similar external means.  Thus media-related events from
    // the element may be the only way to get notified of playback status changes in those cases.

    // Sidenote: for the design of this sample, the general idea is that if user is playing media when
    // Next/Previous is invoked, we will automatically start playing the new item once it has loaded.
    // Whereas if the user has paused or stopped media playback when Next/Previous is invoked, we won't
    // automatically start playing the new item.  In other words, we maintain the user's intent to
    // play or not play across changing the media.  This is most easily handled using the HTML5 audio/
    // video element's "autoplay" attribute.

    // handler for "playing" event from the HTML5 audio/video element
    function playerPlaying() {
        if (isScenario1Active) {
            player.autoplay = true;
            systemMediaControls.playbackStatus = Windows.Media.MediaPlaybackStatus.playing;
            updateSmtcPosition();
            positionUpdateTimerId = setInterval(updateSmtcPosition, 5000);
        }
    }

    // handler for "pause" event from the HTML5 audio/video element
    function playerPaused() {
        if (isScenario1Active) {
            player.autoplay = false;
            systemMediaControls.playbackStatus = Windows.Media.MediaPlaybackStatus.paused;
            updateSmtcPosition();
            clearInterval(positionUpdateTimerId);
        }
    }

    // handler for the "ended" event from the HTML5 audio/video element
    function playerEnded() {
        if (isScenario1Active) {
            if (currentItemIndex < playlist.length - 1) {
                // Current media must've been playing if we received an event about it ending.
                // The design of this sample scenario is to automatically start playing the next
                // item in the playlist.  So we'll set the element's autoplay attribute to true,
                // then in setNewMediaItem() when we eventually set a new source on the player,
                // it will automatically playing the new media item.
                player.autoplay = true;
                setNewMediaItem(currentItemIndex + 1);
            } else {
                if (repeatPlaylist) {
                    // Playlist repeat was selected so start again.
                    player.autoplay = true;
                    setNewMediaItem(0);
                    WinJS.log && WinJS.log("end of playlist, starting playback again at start of playlist", "sample", "status");
                } else {
                    // End of playlist reached.  We'll just stop media playback.
                    player.autoplay = false;
                    stopPlayer();
                    WinJS.log && WinJS.log("end of playlist, stopping playback", "sample", "status");
                    updateSmtcPosition();
                    clearInterval(positionUpdateTimerId);
                }
            }
        }
    }

    // handler for the "error" event from the HTML5 audio/video element
    function playerError() {
        if (isScenario1Active) {
            var errorMessage = "Error playing " + playlist[currentItemIndex].name +
                ".\nPress Next or Previous to continue, or select new files to play.";
            WinJS.log && WinJS.log(errorMessage, "sample", "error");
            systemMediaControls.playbackStatus = Windows.Media.MediaPlaybackStatus.closed;
        }
    }

    // this scenario's event handler for SystemMediaTransportControls' buttonpressed event
    function systemMediaControlsButtonPressed(eventIn) {
        // Check if the user is still on scenario 1, or has started going into
        // another scenario in the sample.
        if (!isScenario1Active) {
            return;
        }

        var mediaButton = Windows.Media.SystemMediaTransportControlsButton;
        switch (eventIn.button) {
            case mediaButton.play:
                WinJS.log && WinJS.log("Play pressed", "sample", "status");
                player.play();
                break;

            case mediaButton.pause:
                WinJS.log && WinJS.log("Pause pressed", "sample", "status");
                player.pause();
                break;

            case mediaButton.stop:
                WinJS.log && WinJS.log("Stop pressed", "sample", "status");
                stopPlayer();
                break;

            case mediaButton.next:
                WinJS.log && WinJS.log("Next pressed", "sample", "status");
                setNewMediaItem(currentItemIndex + 1);
                break;

            case mediaButton.previous:
                WinJS.log && WinJS.log("Previous pressed", "sample", "status");
                setNewMediaItem(currentItemIndex - 1);
                break;

                // Insert additional case statements for other buttons you want to handle in your app.
                // Remember that you also need to first enable those buttons via the corresponding
                // is****Enabled property on the SystemMediaTransportControls object.
        }
    }

    // this scenario's event handler for SystemMediaTransportControls' buttonpressed event
    function systemMediaControlsPropertyChanged(eventIn) {
        // Check if the user is still on scenario 1, or has started going into
        // another scenario in the sample.
        if (!isScenario1Active) {
            return;
        }

        if (eventIn.property == Windows.Media.SystemMediaTransportControlsProperty.soundLevel) {
            switch (systemMediaControls.soundLevel) {
                case Windows.Media.SoundLevel.muted:
                    // We;ve been muted by the system, pause to save out state if we're currently playing.
                    if (player != null && player.playerState == playerState.playing) {
                        WinJS.log && WinJS.log("Play pressed", "sample", "status");
                        player.pause();
                        pausedDueToMute = true;
                    }
                    break;

                case Windows.Media.SoundLevel.full:
                    // We've just been unmuted, if we paused when we muted resume.
                    if (pausedDueToMute) {
                        WinJS.log && WinJS.log("Pause pressed", "sample", "status");
                        player.play();
                    }
                    break;

                case Windows.Media.SoundLevel.low:
                    // We're being ducked, take no action.
                    break;
            }
        }
    }

    // this scenario's event handler for SystemMediaTransportControls' playbackratechangerequsted event
    function systemMediaControlsPlaybackRateChangeRequested(eventIn) {
        // Check if the user is still on scenario 1, or has started going into
        // another scenario in the sample.
        if (!isScenario1Active) {
            return;
        }

        // Check to make sure the requested value is in a range we deem appropriate.
        // We then need to turn around and update SMTC so that the system knows the new value.
        if (eventIn.requestedPlaybackRate >= 0 && eventIn.requestedPlaybackRate <= 2) {
            player.playbackRate = eventIn.requestedPlaybackRate;
            systemMediaControls.playbackRate = player.playbackRate;
            WinJS.log && WinJS.log("Playback rate updated", "sample", "status");
        }
    }

    // this scenario's event handler for SystemMediaTransportControls' playbackpositionchangerequsted event
    function systemMediaControlsPlaybackPositionChangeRequested(eventIn) {
        // Check if the user is still on scenario 1, or has started going into
        // another scenario in the sample.
        if (!isScenario1Active) {
            return;
        }

        // Check to make sure the requested value is in a range we deem appropriate
        //This is a simplified version assumign 0 is the start time, more rgid checks may be needed for offset starts.
        // We then need to turn around and update SMTC so that the system knows the new value.
        if (eventIn.requestedPlaybackPosition >= 0 && eventIn.requestedPlaybackPosition <= player.duration) {
            if (player.playerState == playerState.started) {
                player.currentTime = eventIn.requestedPlaybackPosition;
                updateSmtcPosition();
                WinJS.log && WinJS.log("Playback Position updated", "sample", "status");
            }
        }
    }

    function systemMediaControlsAutoRepeatModeChangeRequested(eventIn) {
        // Check if the user is still on scenario 1, or has started going into
        // another scenario in the sample.
        if (!isScenario1Active) {
            return;
        }

        var autoRepeatMode = Windows.Media.MediaPlaybackAutoRepeatMode;
        switch (eventIn.requestedAutoRepeatMode) {
            // Player only supports repeating a track, if we want to repeat a list we need to handle it ourselves

            case autoRepeatMode.None:
                player.loop = false;
                repeatPlaylist = false;
                break;
            case autoRepeatMode.List:
                player.loop = false;
                repeatPlaylist = true;
                break;
            case autoRepeatMode.Track:
                player.loop = true;
                repeatPlaylist = false;
                break;
        }

        WinJS.log && WinJS.log("Auto Repeat Mode updated", "sample", "status");

        // Report back our new state as whatever was requested, seeing as we always honor it.
        systemMediaControls.autoRepeatMode = eventIn.requestedAutoRepeatMode;
    }

    // For playback of local files, "stop" can be simulated as a pause followed by
    // seeking to beginning.  For other scenarios (eg. live streaming) stop may need
    // to be simulated differently, to be treated same as "pause", or to not support
    // at all.
    function stopPlayer() {
        player.pause();
        player.currentTime = 0;
        systemMediaControls.playbackStatus = Windows.Media.MediaPlaybackStatus.stopped;
    }

    function getMediaTypeFromFileContentType(storageFile) {
        // Determine the appropriate MediaPlaybackType of the media file based on its
        // ContentType (ie. MIME type).  The MediaPlaybackType determines the information
        // shown in the system UI for the system media transport controls.  For example,
        // the copyFromFileAsync() API method will look for different metadata properties
        // from the file to be extracted for eventual display in the system UI, depending
        // on the MediaPlaybackType passed to the API.

        // NOTE: MediaPlaybackType.unknown is *not* a valid value to use in
        // SystemMediaTransportControls APIs.  This method will return
        // MediaPlaybackType.unknown to indicate no valid MediaPlaybackType exists/can be
        // determined for the given storageFile.

        var mediaPlaybackType = Windows.Media.MediaPlaybackType.unknown;
        var fileMimeType = storageFile.contentType.toLowerCase();

        if (fileMimeType.indexOf("audio/") === 0) {
            mediaPlaybackType = Windows.Media.MediaPlaybackType.music;
        }
        else if (fileMimeType.indexOf("video/") === 0) {
            mediaPlaybackType = Windows.Media.MediaPlaybackType.video;
        }
        else if (fileMimeType.indexOf("image/") === 0) {
            mediaPlaybackType = Windows.Media.MediaPlaybackType.image;
        }

        return mediaPlaybackType;
    }

    // Updates the system UI for media transport controls to display media metadata
    // (eg. title, album art, etc.) from the given StorageFile object.
    // This is an asynchronous operation and will return a WinJS Promise object capturing
    // the operation.
    function updateSystemMediaControlsDisplayAsync(mediaFile) {
        var updatePromise;
        var mediaType = getMediaTypeFromFileContentType(mediaFile);

        if (mediaType !== Windows.Media.MediaPlaybackType.unknown) {
            // Use the SystemMediaTransportControlsDisplayUpdater's copyFromFileAsync()
            // API method to try extracting from the StorageFile the relevant media metadata
            // information (eg. track title, artist and album art for MediaPlaybackType.music),
            // copying them into properties of the displayUpdater and related classes.
            //
            // In place of using copyFromFileAsync() [or, you can't use that method because
            // your app's media playback scenario doesn't involve StorageFiles], you can also
            // use other properties in displayUpdater and related classes to explicitly set
            // the MediaPlaybackType and media metadata properties to values of your choosing.
            //
            // Usage notes:
            //     - the first argument cannot be MediaPlaybackType.unknown
            //     - API method may produce an error on certain file errors from the passed
            //       in StorageFile, such as file-not-found error (eg. file was deleted after
            //       user had picked it from file picker earlier).
            updatePromise = systemMediaControls.displayUpdater.copyFromFileAsync(mediaType, mediaFile);
        } else {
            // If we are here, it means we are unable to determine a MediaPlaybackType value based on the
            // StorageFile's contentType (MIME type).  copyFromFileAsync() requires a valid MediaPlaybackType
            // (ie. cannot be MediaPlaybackType.unknown) for the first argument.  One way to handle this is to
            // just pick a valid MediaPlaybackType value to call copyFromFileAsync() with, based on what your
            // app does (eg. MediaPlaybackType.music if your app is a music player).  The MediaPlaybackType
            // directs the API to look for particular sets of media metadata information from the StorageFile,
            // and extraction is best-effort so in worst case simply no metadata information are extracted.
            //
            // For this sample, we will handle this case the same way as copyFromFileAsync() operation
            // completing with a result of false (operation unsuccessful, handled later here in the function),
            // so we create a dummy Promise that completes with a result of false.
            updatePromise = WinJS.Promise.as(false);
        }

        return updatePromise.then(function (isUpdateSuccessful) {
            return isUpdateSuccessful;   // simply forward the result to the next "then"
        }, function (error) {
            // we're in here if the updatePromise is fulfilled with an error [eg. file
            // not found error in copyFromFileAsync()].  Convert this case to a non-error
            // fulfillment with a value of false.
            return false;
        }).then(function (isUpdateSuccessful) {
            if (!isScenario1Active) {
                // User may have navigated away from this scenario page to another scenario page
                // before the async operation completed.
                return;
            }

            if (!isUpdateSuccessful) {
                // For this sample, if copyFromFileAsync() didn't work for us for whatever reasons,
                // we will just clear displayUpdater of all previously set metadata, if any.  This
                // helps ensure we don't end up displaying in the system UI for media transport
                // controls any stale metadata from the media item we were previously playing.
                systemMediaControls.displayUpdater.clearAll();
            }

            // Finally update the system UI display for media transport controls with the new values
            // currently set in the DisplayUpdater, be it via CopyFrmoFileAsync(), ClearAll(), etc.
            systemMediaControls.displayUpdater.update();
        });
    }

    // Performs all necessary actions (including SystemMediaTransportControls related) of loading a
    // new media item in the app for playback.  newItemIndex points to new item in playlist to load
    // for playback; if it is out of range, it will be adjusted accordingly to stay in range.
    function setNewMediaItem(newItemIndex) {
        // enable Next button unless we're on last item of the playlist
        if (newItemIndex >= playlist.length - 1) {
            systemMediaControls.isNextEnabled = false;
            newItemIndex = playlist.length - 1;
        } else {
            systemMediaControls.isNextEnabled = true;
        }

        // enable Previous button unless we're on first item of the playlist
        if (newItemIndex <= 0) {
            systemMediaControls.isPreviousEnabled = false;
            newItemIndex = 0;
        } else {
            systemMediaControls.isPreviousEnabled = true;
        }

        // note that the Play, Pause and Stop buttons were already enabled via
        // setupSystemMediaTransportControls() invoked during this scenario page's
        // ready() method

        currentItemIndex = newItemIndex;
        var mediaFile = playlist[currentItemIndex];
        player.src = URL.createObjectURL(mediaFile, { oneTimeOnly: true });

        // for sample purpose only: the setActive() as a side effect will temporarily
        // fades in the build-in transport controls of the <video> element as visual
        // feedback, in case the mediaFile being loaded/played is audio-only.  Not
        // necessary with <audio> elements as their build-in transport controls
        // (when enabled) are always visible.
        player.setActive();

        updateSystemMediaControlsDisplayAsync(mediaFile).done(function (done) {
            // no further actions needed
        }, function (error) {
            WinJS.log && WinJS.log(error.message, "sample", "error");
        });
    }
})();


text:
§431:16-205 Definitions. As used in this part:
"Account" means any of the three accounts created under section 431:16-206(a).
"Association" means the Hawaii life and disability insurance guaranty association created under section 431:16-206.
"Authorized assessment" or "authorized" when used in the context of assessments means a resolution by the board of directors that has been passed whereby an assessment will be called immediately or in the future from member insurers for a specified amount.
"Called assessment" or "called" when used in the context of assessments means a notice that has been issued by the association to member insurers requiring that an authorized assessment be paid within the time frame set forth within the notice.
"Contractual obligation" means any obligation under a policy or contract or certificate under a group policy or contract, or portion thereof for which coverage is provided under section 431:16-203.
"Covered policy" means any policy or contract or portion of a policy or contract for which coverage is provided under section 431:16-203.
"Extra-contractual claims" shall include, but not be limited to, claims relating to bad faith in the payment of claims, punitive or exemplary damages, or attorneys' fees and costs.
"Impaired insurer" means a member insurer that after July 1, 1988, is not an insolvent insurer, and is placed under an order of rehabilitation or conservation by a court of competent jurisdiction.
"Insolvent insurer" means a member insurer that after July 1, 1988, is placed under an order of liquidation by a court of competent jurisdiction with a finding of insolvency.
"Member insurer" means any insurer licensed or who holds a certificate of authority to transact in this State any kind of insurance for which coverage is provided under section 431:16‑203, and includes any insurer whose license or certificate of authority in this State may have been suspended, revoked, not renewed, or voluntarily withdrawn, but does not include:
(1) A nonprofit hospital or medical service organization;
(2) A health maintenance organization;
(3) A fraternal benefit society;
(4) A mandatory state pooling plan;
(5) A mutual assessment company or any entity that operates on an assessment basis;
(6) An insurance exchange;
(7) An organization that has a certificate or license limited to the issuance of charitable gift annuities; or
(8) Any entity similar to any of the above.
"Moody's Corporate Bond Yield Average" means the Monthly Average Corporates as published by Moody's Investors Service, Inc., or any successor thereto.
"Owner", "policy owner", or "contract owner" means the person who is identified as the legal owner under the terms of the policy or contract or who is otherwise vested with legal title to the policy or contract through a valid assignment completed in accordance with the terms of the policy or contract and properly recorded as the owner on the books of the insurer. The terms "owner", "contract owner", and "policy owner" do not include persons with a mere beneficial interest in a policy or contract.
"Person" means any individual, corporation, limited liability company, partnership, association, governmental body or entity, or voluntary organization.
"Premiums" means amounts and considerations received on covered policies or contracts less premiums, considerations and deposits returned thereon, and less dividends and experience credits thereon. Premiums does not include any amounts or consideration received for any policies or contracts or for the portions of any policies or contracts for which coverage is not provided under section 431:16-203(b) except that assessable premium shall not be reduced on accounts under section 431:16‑203(b)(2)(C) relating to interest limitations and section 431:16-203(c)(2) relating to limitations with respect to any one life and any one contract holder. Premiums shall also not include:
(1) Premiums on an unallocated annuity contract; or
(2) Premiums in excess of $5,000,000, regardless of:
(A) The number of policies or contracts held by the owner, with respect to multiple non-group policies of life insurance owned by one owner;
(B) Whether the policy owner is an individual, firm, corporation, or other person; and
(C) Whether the persons insured are officers, managers, employees, or other persons.
"Receivership court" means the court in the insolvent or impaired insurer's state having jurisdiction over the conservation, rehabilitation, or liquidation of the insurer.
"Resident" means a person to whom a contractual obligation is owed and who resides in this State on the date of entry of a court order that determines a member insurer to be an impaired insurer or an insolvent insurer. A person may be a resident of only one state, which in the case of a person other than a natural person shall be its principal place of business. Citizens of the United States who are:
(1) Residents of foreign countries; or
(2) Residents of United States possessions, territories, or protectorates that do not have an association similar to the association created by this part,
shall be deemed residents of the state of domicile of the insurer that issued the policies or contracts.
"State" means a state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, or a United States possession, territory, or protectorate.
"Structured settlement annuity" means an annuity purchased to fund periodic payments for a plaintiff or other claimant in payment for or with respect to personal injury suffered by the plaintiff or other claimant.
"Supplemental contract" means a written agreement entered into for the distribution of proceeds under a life, health, or annuity policy or life, health, or annuity contract.
"Unallocated annuity contract" means any annuity contract or group annuity certificate that is not issued to and owned by an individual, except to the extent of any annuity benefits guaranteed to an individual by an insurer under such contract or certificate. [L 1987, c 347, pt of §2; am L 2004, c 122, §74; am L 2012, c 250, §5]


text:
Osun Auto Crash Claims Six Catholic Members
On Sunday, six members of the Catholic Diocese of Osogbo, in the Otan Ayegbaju area of Osun State, died in a fatal auto crash.
It was gathered that the victims were returning from the church's annual pilgrimage when the accident happened.
The victims were said to be travelling in a bus belonging to SS Peter and Paul, Lagere, Ile Ife Parish.
They were said to have left Otan after partaking in a mass also attended by dignitaries that included the Osun State Deputy Governor, Benedict Alabi, and ex-Registrar, National Business and Technical Examinations Board, Prof. Olu Aina, which concluded the one-day pilgrimage.
The bus driver, who had 18 passengers on board, was said to have lost control after running into a ditch in Eripa town, on the Ila Orangun/Ikirun Road.
A priest was said to be one of the passengers injured in the accident.
Some priests, our correspondent, learnt, were at the Ladoke Akintola Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, on Sunday to donate blood to some victims in urgent need of blood transfusion.
The Osun State Police Public Relations Officer, Folasade Odoro, told our correspondent that six people were confirmed dead in the crash, while nine others were injured.
Odoro added that the state Commissioner of Police, Johnson Kokumo, had directed a full investigation into the cause of the accident.
She said the CP, immediately the report of the accident was received, mobilised men to the area, adding that the scene of the accident had been cleared.
Odoro said, "The accident occurred around 11 am on Sunday when the driver of a Toyota bus with number plate, Lagos GGE 109 DY, with 18 passengers of the Catholic Diocese of Osogbo, Lagere, Ile Ife Parish, lost control and entered a ditch.
"Six died, while nine people were injured. The injured victims were taken to a hospital in Iree for treatment. The remains of six people that were confirmed dead by a doctor were deposited in the morgue of the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo."
Four Soldiers Jailed 10 Years for Torturing Corporal to Death
Car Theft Allegation: My Lawyer Warned Me Not To Talk – Iyanya


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