Legislative Audit Committee approves drafting two audit-related bills on school capital review and the state fraud hotline

At its July 1 meeting the Legislative Audit Committee authorized staff to draft two bills arising from audit work and committee member requests.

What passed: First, the committee asked Legislative Legal Services to draft a bill to change a statutory requirement that the state auditor "shall annually examine the amount of state education funds on school capital construction projects" so that the auditor may conduct the review at the auditor—9s discretion. Audit staff said the mandatory annual reporting language is a residual element from earlier law (2008 grant-related changes) and is no longer routinely used; the committee voted to proceed to drafting on a unanimous roll-call vote.

Second, the committee authorized drafting a short statutory clarification at the request of Senator Weisman to ensure fraud-hotline investigations conducted by the Office of the State Auditor do not, by the act of the hotline—9s review, automatically waive attorney-client privilege for materials otherwise protected. The senator said the change is intended to protect privilege while permitting the hotline to screen and investigate allegations of financial wrongdoing. The committee moved to drafting on a unanimous roll-call vote.

Details and next steps: Audit staff described the school capital change as a corrective clean-up of an oversight in prior legislation; the fraud-hotline proposal will be drafted with input from the Office of the State Auditor and Legislative Legal Services. Both drafts will return to the committee in October for final approval and sponsor assignment if the committee chooses to carry the bills.

Ending: The committee recorded roll-call approvals for both drafting requests and scheduled follow-up in October.