Lawmakers press fixes to repeated audit failures; bill would tighten CFO qualifications

Senator Shelley Hedelman presented Senate Bill 859, a joint audit and evaluation committee bill that would establish education and experience guidelines for chief financial officers at agencies with large fiscal responsibilities. The bill responds to repeat audit findings and aims to bolster fiscal oversight by ensuring senior fiscal leaders meet baseline qualifications.

Eddie Rubenstein of the Office of Legislative Audits cited findings from the October 2023 MDH audit as an example: auditors found MDH had not performed a reconciliation that identified federal funds to request until OA brought it to the department’s attention, and "MDH did not request $973 million from the federal government until we brought it to their attention in 2022," Rubenstein said. He also said the untimely recovery cost the state roughly $6 million in lost investment income and that MDH had paid over $10 million to an accounting firm since July 2023 to address the issues.

Administration witnesses including Jake Weissman (DBM Secretary) and a chief performance officer described a multi‑part executive‑branch effort: a governor directive ordering agencies to review audit‑resolution processes, a pilot internal tool at DoIT to track findings, convenings of agency leaders to share best practices, and proposed budget requests (a $5 million FY2027 proposal to address repeat audit findings and $2 million to recruit technical staff) to build capacity. Weissman said the administration supports the bill with amendments to balance professional standards and recruitment realities.

Committee members raised questions about whether qualification rules alone address systemic issues and discussed expanding internal audit capacity and prioritization of repeat findings, with senators urging the administration to present clearer triage and fiscal‑priority frameworks. No formal committee vote occurred at the hearing.