Committee advances bill giving legislative auditor authority to audit publicly funded homeless service providers
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Summary
HB 6 16, which would permit the legislative auditor to perform performance audits of publicly funded homeless service providers, was reported favorably after hearings in which providers warned about duplicate audits, privacy of HMIS data, and administrative burden; the legislative auditor said prior requests for data were blocked.
Representative Knox told the committee HB 6 16 is designed to increase transparency and accountability for publicly funded homeless service providers by permitting parish presidents or mayors to request a legislative performance audit and requiring providers to produce documentation when requested.
Witnesses from provider networks and continuums of care said the bill duplicates existing oversight, would impose onerous staff time and costs on small rural continuums, and could chill provider participation if not narrowly written. Amanda Stapleton of Unity of Greater New Orleans recommended amendments to direct reviews to the Louisiana Interagency Council on Homelessness and to apply the same performance standards to all nonprofits receiving public funds.
Mike Waguespack, the legislative auditor, described a past review in which auditors were denied access to a large homelessness database (HMIS) and said the performance audit sought to examine where public funds were spent and whether outcomes matched investment. ‘‘When we performed this audit, we could not get access,’’ Waguespack said, describing legal resistance and costly litigation that followed prior attempts to obtain data. He told the committee auditors routinely protect personally identifiable information in work papers and described data‑sharing agreements used in other audits.
Providers asked for explicit statutory protections for client privacy, carve‑outs for sensitive HMIS fields, and for the bill to avoid duplicative audits when federal reporting and annual financial audits already exist. Representative Knox said he is open to clarifying amendments and stressed the law would aim to improve stewardship of taxpayer dollars.
The committee ultimately voted to report HB 6 16 favorably; members said they expect further amendments to address data privacy, clarify scope and avoid duplicative compliance burdens.
Next steps: HB 6 16 was reported favorably and will go to appropriations and further drafting to refine audit scope and privacy protections.
