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State inspector general details pandemic-unemployment investigations, outlines office budget and jurisdiction
Summary
Inspector General Randall Meyer described the office’s oversight role across executive agencies, cited pandemic-unemployment assistance (PUA) work that focused staff resources, and said the office’s biennial budget request sustains current staffing and oversight capacity.
Inspector General Randall Meyer told the House Development Committee his office needs funding to preserve investigative capacity after extensive work on pandemic‑era unemployment fraud and other probes.
Meyer said the Office of Inspector General ‘‘serves as an independent watchdog for the state of Ohio’’ with jurisdiction over the governor’s office, executive agencies, boards, commissions, state universities and vendors doing business with the state. He described a staff of roughly 17 professionals and said about 80% of the office’s budget is related to payroll costs.
Turning to pandemic work, Meyer said the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) disbursed ‘‘approximately 7,600,000,000.0 in pandemic related unemployment benefits during fiscal years 2021 alone’’ and that ODJFS later identified ‘‘nearly half a billion of the disbursements as fraudulent.’’ Meyer said his office opened 23 investigations tied to the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program between 2021 and early 2024 and has completed multiple reports identifying millions in losses and criminal referrals. He described investigative tools used by the office, including subpoenas, forensic analysis, search warrants and collaboration with state and federal prosecutors.
Committee members asked about funding sources and why ODOT and the Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) have dedicated transfers to the inspector general; Meyer said the separate funding streams date to past investigations (including the 'Tom Noe' coin‑gate matter) and that the office assigns deputy inspectors to those agencies to be direct contacts.
Meyer requested an appropriation sufficient to ‘‘support current staff and maintain Ohio's current level of oversight’’ for the FY26–27 biennium. The committee thanked him; no formal vote on the request was taken at the hearing.
