House committee refers House File 3 to Ways and Means to track agencies' responses to OLA recommendations

A Minnesota House committee on Jan. 1, 2025, voted to refer House File 3 to the Committee on Ways and Means after lawmakers heard testimony that the bill would put information from the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) directly before fiscal committees as agencies request funding.

House File 3, introduced by Representative Nash, would require the OLA to produce a summary — described by the author as a “score” — showing how many prior OLA recommendations an agency has implemented. Representative Nash told the committee the change is intended to give legislators “some tools” to consider when deciding whether to appropriate money and to prevent future waste, fraud and abuse.

Judy Randall, legislative auditor, told the committee OLA already collects implementation information from agencies through Minnesota Management and Budget, and the office conducts follow-up work in some cases. “We reach out to the agencies. We ask for some additional information. Have you implemented the recommendation? ... And then we would look at the policy and determine independently whether or not we think it fulfilled the recommendation,” Randall said, describing a deeper review the bill would support by dedicating staff and resources to confirmation work.

Rhianna Lee, legislative and coalitions director for the Americans for Prosperity – Minnesota chapter, urged support for the bill in public testimony, calling it a measure to ensure “greater accountability and transparency in how public agencies manage the resources that are entrusted to them.” Lee said the bill would require the OLA to provide an annual report “highlighting whether agencies are acting on recommendations related to improving financial practices, internal controls, and overall management.”

Committee members from both parties expressed support. Representative Joy said the measure would provide useful oversight similar to municipal audit follow-ups, and Representative Kosnick described it as “about accountability to the taxpayers.” Representative Quam noted federal-aid audits had previously revealed state compliance failures and urged continued attention to those findings.

Representative Nash described the scale of problems the bill aims to address, telling the committee that verified losses were “a little over a half a 1000000000” and that unverified amounts “nudges up towards a $1,000,000,000.” He framed the proposal as a nonpartisan, process-improvement effort using OLA’s work to help lawmakers make funding decisions.

After discussion, Representative Nash moved that House File 3 be re-referred to the Committee on Ways and Means; Representative Quam seconded. The committee adopted the motion by voice vote and the referral was recorded as recommended to Ways and Means.

The bill's next step is consideration by the Committee on Ways and Means, where members will have another opportunity to review the proposal and any offered amendments.