Travel Policy Change Summary

The recent release of an entirely new State Travel Policy has prompted a few requests for a summary of those changes.  This article will, at a very high level, address a few of those changes and explain why a more detailed summary of changes of State Travel Policy and all of the other policies that will soon be published will not be forthcoming.

With respect to State Travel Policy, there are four major changes.

SAAM 5007 and 5008 are entirely new and deal with new responsibilities that have been delegated to the agencies, particularly with respect to lodging.

SAAM 5056 changes the method of dealing with delinquent travel claims.  Again, this shifts greater responsibilities to the agencies.  A new Form GAO-513 has been published to deal with these changes.

SAAM 5025 introduces a simplified way of determining which meals for which an employee may be reimbursed.

SAAM 5025 also establishes as policy that a continental breakfast served at a conference or similar gathering constitutes a meal.

The GAO sees a number of problems that might arise from issuing summaries of policy changes:

  1. Where changes are somewhat insignificant (mere format or organizational changes) summaries are not worth producing.
  2. Where changes are significant, summaries may be nearly as long as the policy statements themselves.  Moreover, and more important, there may be what seem to be minor changes in verbiage that have a major effect (the change, for example, from “should” to “must”) that are overlooked in compiling a summary.
  3. Those whose positions require them to perform certain functions (approving a travel claim), need to be familiar with policy, not merely an abstract or summary of policy.

With regard to the last point, policy statements have been and are undergoing a major reorganization with the goal of making them easier to use.  

First, there will be only one set of policy statements—SAAM; technical bulletins will, in their current format and for their current purpose at least, be no longer used.  It will no longer be necessary to check whether a certain SAAM section has been superseded or partially superseded by one or more TBs.  

Second, most SAAM sections are relatively short and very much targeted to certain personnel or functions.  One need not try to figure out where in the Travel Section of SAAM and in which TBs conferences are discussed; they are discussed in SAAM 5040, “Conferences, Conventions and Meetings.”

We do not expect these new policy statements to be perfect and we anticipate making updates as needed (much easier and likely to be more timely with smaller, targeted documents, each with its own “Issued Date”).  We also have solicited and will, to the extent practicable, continue to solicit input from agencies.  Starting last June, we began posting exposure drafts for comment.  We have received approximately two hundred emails from agencies over the past year, each containing a number of comments, corrections or recommendations, all of which have been considered, if not adopted.  

We feel that shortcuts to gaining familiarization with State policy are ultimately inefficient and ineffective.  They lead to misunderstandings and errors that take our most important resource—time—to correct.

In the coming months, all of old SAAM and TBs will be replaced.  Most of the changes will be relatively minor.  Some are required by the soon-to-be implemented new AFIS.  We are confident that our readers can meet and overcome the challenges that the coming year will present us all.

Comments, corrections, complaints and compliments should be emailed to [email protected].  Please include the number of the SAAM section in the subject line.  Please, if at all possible, comment upon new drafts within thirty (30) days of publication.

Author
Greg Vokoun
Date