Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Audit topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
House approves bill to expand state audit capacity, sponsors say it will pay for itself
Summary
First Substitute HB176 passed 62‑5. Sponsor Representative Christiansen said the bill funds additional audits ($300,000 fiscal note) to shorten audit cycles and build cumulative performance histories that could reveal savings; the vote followed questions about scope, prioritization and cost.
The Utah House on Feb. 23 approved First Substitute House Bill 176, a measure to expand audits of state agency budgets and create cumulative performance histories intended to improve efficiency and identify savings.
Representative Christiansen, the sponsor, said the legislative auditor's recent work had identified nearly $100 million in savings and that earmarking $300,000 for additional audits would accelerate the audit cycle from roughly 20 years toward a 7–10 year rotation. "Some of the audits we've seen have produced multi‑million‑dollar returns," Christiansen said, pointing to a recent state parks audit that identified ~$8.5 million in savings.
Members questioned how the additional audits would fit with the existing ad hoc request process and how the $300,000 fiscal note would be allocated. Christiansen said the legislative auditor and fiscal analysts collaborated on the bill language and that the funds would support additional FTEs in the auditor's office to expand capacity without displacing existing requests.
Representative Greenwood and others pressed for clarity on the $300,000 use; the auditor reportedly proposed hiring 2–4 FTEs to perform additional audits. After discussion the House read the bill three times and passed the measure 62‑5; it will be transmitted to the Senate.
