The House Operations Committee adopted a first substitute to a bill clarifying the Office of the Legislative Auditor General’s authority to require agency responses to audit recommendations and preserving criminal penalties for interference as an enforcement backstop.

Representative Burton, sponsor of the audit measure, said the substitute clarifies who is the chief officer responsible for ensuring audited units respond to findings and that the office’s intent is to ensure agencies do not ignore audit recommendations. “This bill helps to clarify some of the language from the original bill. It’s a good bill to ensure government accountability,” Burton said.

Cade Minche, the legislative auditor, told the committee the updated language arose from implementation experience and suggestions from the attorney general’s office to make enforcement clearer. Minche said the office uses administrative remedies and subpoenas and has not relied on criminal prosecution in his 23 years in the office; the criminal provisions exist as a last-resort measure.

Committee members pressed on enforcement and whether criminal penalties could deter ordinary employees from cooperating. The auditor and sponsor said administrative steps and subpoenas are the ordinary tools and criminal charges have never been used by the office in their experience.

State Board of Education audit staff noted the board was responding to numerous audits and recommended flexibility in time lines and reporting to avoid undue workload impacts; Jenny Earl, a representative from the State Board, told the committee the board currently has 10 audits and 11 items in corrective action that affect workload.

The committee adopted the first substitute and then voted to recommend the substitute bill out of committee with a favorable recommendation.