New auditor positions would increase oversight of Kansas agency spending, sponsor says

Rep. Kristey Williams testified about a bill she co-sponsored to create two fiscal integrity auditor positions to provide better oversight of expenditures. (Photo by Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — A proposal adding two positions to increase oversight of state agencies and make sure they’re spending money as the Legislature intended met with concerns about confidentiality and whether problems could be identified in time to make a difference. 

The House Appropriations committee on Thursday heard testimony about House Bill 2427, which proposes adding a fiscal integrity auditor position. The auditor could access state fiscal technology systems and track expenditures at state agencies, said committee vice chairwoman Rep. Kristey Williams, R-Augusta, who testified at the hearing. 

Although the bill requests one position, Williams said it will be amended to request two, one for the House and Senate. That would double the fiscal note on the bill, which is just more than $225,000 per year, she said. 

Williams, who is co-sponsoring the bill, said the auditor position would make sure dollars allocated by the legislature are spent appropriately. 

The goal would be for fiscal integrity auditors to identify spending issues that would allow the Legislature to more quickly see when funding wasn’t being used consistent with laws’ intent. The goal would be to give legislators time to take action, such as clawing back funding or retroactively make adjustments, she said. 

“We pass our budgets, but then we don’t really know or have the ability to follow up on those expenditures,” Williams testified. “Once we look at the expenditures, it’s too late to do anything about it if it’s not in alignment with legislative intent.” 

It’s not always possible to get access to expenditure reports and fiscal information as legislators, said Rep. Adam Turk, a Shawnee Republican, in response to questions from other committee members about whether the auditor position is necessary. 

“I hear a lot of these questions coming from the other party and all it tells me is they clearly do not understand what it takes as a chair of these budget sub-committees to get information,” he said. “You say simply ask. Well, I’m telling you, I’ve asked repeatedly, time and time and time and time again, from institutions, from agencies, from everybody, and we don’t get the information.”

Turk said the lack of fiscal information hurts the legislative decision-making process. 

“We don’t get the acute information that we request, we do not get it in a timely manner to make coherent decisions, and we need it,” he said. “ We get the information several years down the road after the money’s already spent.”

Rep. Henry Helgerson, D-Wichita, said lawmakers have ceded their authority to state agencies and need to take it back. 

“That’s the real problem in this. We have gotten out of the habit of going back and holding the agencies accountable and asking specifically, how’d you spend the money last year, what did you spend it on, was that the intent, and are we getting the outcomes this year after the money’s been spent,” he said. “The Legislature has moved in the direction of giving more and more authority to the agencies to shift money around.”

Even though he’d like to see more oversight and accountability, Helgerson said he wasn’t sure if auditor positions were the way to change the situation.

Rep. Jo Ella Hoye, D-Lenexa, raised the issue of ensuring individuals in the auditor position maintain confidentiality because of their access to private data. She referenced news this week from the federal government that two Department of Government Efficiency employees downloaded Social Security numbers and improperly shared them.

Williams said a confidentiality agreement could be written for the position to ensure data privacy, and she noted that’s standard for state employees who have access to fiscal data.