Legislation to improve oversight of state programs will receive a public hearing on Friday at 10:30 a.m. in the Senate State Government, Tribal Affairs & Elections Committee. 

Senate Bill 6215, sponsored by Sen. Drew Hansen (D-Bainbridge Island), would require the State Auditor’s Office to prepare a comprehensive list of state programs that have been audited within the last ten years, including a summary in plain language of each program’s key internal controls and anti-fraud measures.  

Washington state has several bodies charged with preventing fraud, including the Washington State Auditor’s Office, legislative oversight entities like the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee, numerous government oversight boards and commissions, including citizen oversight boards, audit units within state agencies, and more. However, many state programs’ fraud prevention measures are not easily accessible to the public. It can be difficult for the public to know which of the State Auditor’s findings are sufficiently high-risk and should be addressed by additional legislative or executive branch action.  

The Department of Children, Youth, and Families recently laid out the childcare monitoring and accountability systems the agency has in place to prevent fraud to members of the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee. 

Hansen’s bill would also require the Auditor’s Office to develop an annual high-risk list, similar to the federal government’s high-risk list reported to Congress by the Government Accountability Office. Under the proposed bill, the Legislature would receive a report identifying state programs that may be susceptible to fraud. It would assess the effectiveness of existing internal controls and recommend program improvements to protect public funds.  

“The people of Washington state have a right to expect that we are careful and deliberate when we spend public money and that we have safeguards against fraud,” Hansen said. “This bill will give us an inventory of our existing anti-fraud controls and ask the State Auditor to highlight any programs where the Legislature and the Governor should pay particular attention.”  

The hearing will be streamed live on TVW. 

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