Legislative Audit subcommittee advances roughly 11 semifinal topics to legislator survey; vote unanimous

The Legislative Audit Commission evaluation subcommittee voted unanimously April 2 to forward the top-ranked semifinalist topics to a survey of legislators that will determine which program evaluations the Office of the Legislative Auditor pursues in 2025.

The subcommittee met at 8:30 a.m. in Room G15 of the Minnesota State Capitol to review background papers on 18 proposed evaluation topics and to narrow that list for the broader legislative survey. Representative Anderson moved to advance the items in the two highest-ranked groups (about 11 topics) to the survey; the motion was seconded and carried on a roll-call vote that the clerk recorded as unanimous.

The Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) staff emphasized that the preliminary screening is intended to avoid sending topics to the full legislature that look popular but are not feasible or timely. "In the past, we have typically moved along 10 topics to the survey," said Jody Munson Rodriguez, deputy legislative auditor for OLA's program evaluation division, noting her office had done background research to assess feasibility against criteria the commission adopted in October.

Why it matters: the survey results will…