Committee advances plan request to study moving public funds audit functions to legislature after heated testimony

The Management Audit Committee voted to advance a bill draft asking for a reorganization plan to transfer the Department of Audit’s public funds division (including the state’s local-government census and other administrative audit functions) to the legislative branch or to create a separate legislative audit office.

LSO attorney Josh Anderson and staff presented the working draft (26 LSO-0165) and described it as a statutory mechanism that would direct the Department of Audit and the Legislative Service Office directors to jointly prepare a type-2 reorganization plan for submission to the governor, management council and this committee by July 1, 2026, with implementation targeted by July 1, 2027.

Department of Audit Director Justin Chavis testified at length about what the public funds division does and the operational implications of a transfer. He described core administrative functions handled by the division — receiving and reviewing preliminary and final budgets for special districts, collecting census financial reports from roughly 900 local government entities, producing the statutorily required cost-to-government report, approving and tracking public-officer training and managing the statewide financial-statement audits and federally…