Bill would strengthen audit authority
The Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee heard testimony Feb. 6 on a bill intended to strengthen the audit authority of the Legislative Audit Office (LAO) and the state Auditor of Public Accounts (APA).
Syracuse Sen. Dan Watermeier, sponsor of LB539, said the bill would better equip the LAO and the APA to carry out their respective tasks by ensuring that the offices are equally empowered to require audited entities to respond quickly and responsibly to requests for audit records and documentation.
The bill would require state agencies to respond to a request for information from the LAO or APA within three business days of the request. For particularly difficult or extensive requests, the agency would have up to three weeks to provide the requested information. Failure to comply with the bill’s deadlines or other willful obstruction of an audit would be a Class II misdemeanor.
A supervisor or manager who takes retaliatory action against a state or political subdivision employee who provides information to the LAO or APA would be guilty of a Class III misdemeanor and dismissed from employment with the state.
Finally, the bill would ensure that the LAO and APA have the authority to review agency information protected under attorney-client privilege, while noting that compliance does not constitute a waiver of that privilege.
Lance Lambdin, legal counsel for the state auditor’s office, testified in support of the bill, saying the office has had to wait months for a state agency to respond to a records request.
Lambdin said the office sometimes has resorted to a public records request when dealing with uncooperative auditees in the hope of obtaining information more quickly. Unfortunately, he said, while doing so may speed up a response, there are 18 types of information that can be withheld from a public records request.
“So we’re placed between a rock and a hard place,” he said.
No one testified in opposition to the bill and the committee took no immediate action on it.
