March 3, 2025
Representative Rick Hansen, Chair, called the Legislative Audit Commission (LAC) meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Chair Hansen thanked the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) and LAC members for their work of the last two years. He then turned to the first order of business, to elect a new LAC Chair. Chair Hansen moved to elect Senator Rest as the new Chair; Representative Anderson seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken. With a quorum being present, the motion passed unanimously. Chair Hansen passed the gavel to Senator Rest.
Chair Rest said the next order of business was to take nominations for Vice Chair. Senator Koran nominated Representative Quam for Vice Chair. With no further nominations, a roll call vote was taken. Representative Quam was elected unanimously.
Chair Rest then discussed the subcommittee assignments, as assigned below:
Executive Subcommittee: Representative Quam, Chair; Representative Hansen; and Senators Koran and Rest
Evaluation Subcommittee (Program Evaluation): Senator Dibble, Chair; Senators Drazkowski and Rest; and Representatives Anderson, Lee, and Quam
Audit Subcommittee (Financial Audits): Senator Bahr, Chair; Senators Koran and Xiong; and Representatives Greenman, Hansen, and Jacob
Members then discussed protocols for the release of OLA program evaluation reports and special reviews. Each member was given an opportunity to share their thoughts on their duties to the commission and fellow legislators, and to the relationship of the commission to OLA. Legislative Auditor Judy Randall was invited to speak and addressed the not-public nature of OLA reports until the time of their release; the briefings OLA offers to commission members and key legislators; the timing and public release of reports; and report presentations to the commission, committees, or both. She described the process agencies are given to review reports and write response letters, and added that it is a violation of the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act for agencies to discuss an OLA report with members before the report is released.
Chair Rest then asked Ms. Randall for her comments on legislation relating to OLA—Senate File 1773 and HF 1239, and Senate File 1772 and House File 1240. Ms. Randall also discussed several of the committee meetings OLA has participated in during the spring, including those discussing the proposed Office of Inspector General.
Lori Leysen, Deputy Legislative Auditor for the Financial Audit Division, briefly discussed recent financial audits, and the audits of the state’s financial statements and three pension systems. She then shared the topics for the current audits: (1) Department of Human Services: Behavioral Health Administration (grant related audit), (2) Department of Natural Resources: Outdoor Heritage Fund (grant related audit), (3) Minnesota State: Faculty Payroll (payroll audit), (4) Statewide Overtime Pay (payroll audit), (5) Office of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor (constitutional office audit), (6) Department of Public Safety: Driver and Vehicle Data Sales (IT audit), (7) Minnesota IT Services: Cloud-Based Information Technology Services (IT audit), and (8) a “prior audit finding” follow-up audit with certain agencies.
Jodi Munson Rodríguez, Deputy Legislative Auditor for the Program Evaluation Division, briefly spoke about the completed program evaluations and those soon to be released. She said that the division had also recently issued a report detailing the extent to which recommendations from evaluations and special reviews issued over the past three years had been implemented. Finally, she noted that topic selection is in progress, and that OLA had received more than 100 topic suggestions for OLA to evaluate in 2025.
With no further discussion, Chair Rest adjourned the meeting at 10:01 a.m.
Senator Ann H. Rest, Chair
Maureen Garrahy, Recording Secretary
