State auditor urges lawmakers for subpoena power, in-house counsel and data tools to strengthen oversight
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Summary
The state auditor outlined a package of proposals to the Legislative Audit and Fiscal Review Committee including authority to retain legal counsel, subpoena power, expanded data-analytics access (including controlled AI) and expanded cybersecurity review capacity for local governments to improve audits and follow-up.
North Dakota's state auditor told the committee that growing workload and increasingly complex audits require new statutory authorities and technical capabilities.
Josh Galley described multiple constraints: limited in-house capacity for specialized audits, reliance on contracted firms for work requiring actuarial or banking expertise, and a lack of statutory authority to pull cross-agency datasets for advanced analytics. "We are a little short on the ability to conduct performance audits," Galley said. He urged the Legislature to consider giving the auditor's office authority to retain its own legal counsel, limited subpoena power and resources for an in-house data-analytics unit with secure AI tools.
Galley said the current practice of relying on the Attorney General's Office for counsel can prevent the auditor from pursuing records from constitutional officers when counsel determines litigation is not warranted. "If the attorney general does not think it's important, then we don't do it, and our work is stopped," he said, adding that independent counsel and subpoena authority would help when private entities refuse to produce records.
He also proposed expanding real-time analytics capabilities across state data sets to detect program eligibility anomalies and better target audits. The auditor suggested offering cybersecurity review services to local governments and asked for more staff to build an analytics capability.
Committee members pressed on resource needs and next steps; Galley said the office will bring detailed proposals and cost estimates to the next session and that the auditor's office can work with legislative counsel and appropriators on statutory language.