State auditors back grant‑oversight fixes, warn against expanding audit duties without resources

John Geragosian and Craig Miner, auditors of public accounts, told the Government Oversight Committee on March 3 that they support several bills that implement recommendations from the auditors' latest grant‑monitoring report but raised concerns about other proposals that would expand their statutory duties.

Geragosian said the auditors back Senate Bill 247 and House Bill 5255, both of which would implement recommendations to standardize state grant language, improve monitoring of subawardees and encourage Office of Policy and Management (OPM) to create a clearinghouse of grant information. The auditors provided the committee a written report and suggested statutory language to clarify several definitions.

But the auditors cautioned against Senate Bill 251, which would increase the office’s authority to conduct audits and site visits of non‑state entities that expend state financial assistance. Geragosian said current law already requires any non‑state entity spending $500,000 or more in state assistance in a fiscal year to obtain a single‑audit; adding hundreds of duplicative audits to the auditors' docket would require creating a dedicated unit and many new hires.

Craig Miner highlighted that money allocated by agencies is often carved into subawards and sub‑subawards, making it difficult to trace downstream spending. Their review of federal single‑audit work identified repeated weaknesses in subrecipient monitoring, inconsistent grant awards and long‑running findings that persist when agencies fail to perform timely oversight.

The auditors urged the committee to consider OPM templates for grant awards, training for agencies that issue subawards, and clearer legislative intent for earmarked grants so agencies understand how to administer them. They also asked that the auditors’ independence not be compromised by requiring participation on working groups or appointment powers for novel oversight offices.

Committee members asked for clarifications about the recommended standard template, federal compliance overlaps, and the practical staffing needs to perform additional site visits. The auditors said that, where possible, OPM should produce data for the auditors to review rather than having the auditors perform every agency’s monitoring function.