April 2, 2025
Senator D. Scott Dibble, Chair, called the Legislative Audit Commission (LAC) Evaluation Subcommittee meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. Chair Dibble asked for a roll call; a quorum was present. Chair Dibble said the subcommittee was meeting to review the background papers and topic rankings prepared by the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) on the 18 evaluation topics chosen at the prior subcommittee meeting. The subcommittee would narrow them once again to be placed on a legislative survey to gauge legislators’ interest.
Chair Dibble introduced Jodi Munson Rodríguez, Deputy Legislative Auditor for the Program Evaluation Division, and Judy Randall, Legislative Auditor. Ms. Munson Rodríguez went through the meeting materials in members’ packets, in particular, the most-to-least-promising list of the 18 topics which more clearly indicated the most promising topics for evaluation. Ms. Munson Rodríguez said that OLA identified concerns with the seven topics at the bottom of the list that would affect their usefulness. For instance, timing concerns for a couple were a consideration, since proposed legislation, if enacted, could fundamentally change those programs, but she added that they could then be good topics to consider in the fall.
Chair Dibble asked for more explanation as to why the seven at the bottom of the list had landed there, and Senator Rest asked about similarities between the topics of Automatic Voter Registration and the Voter Registration System. Ms. Munson Rodríguez said that OLA considered the voting topics as distinct topics. She said Automatic Voter Registration would be focused on the Department of Public Safety’s (DPS’s) processes for taking in citizenship documentation, reviewing it, and passing it to the Office of the Secretary of State (OSS), while the Voter Registration System would be focused on activities at OSS and in individual precincts. Ms. Munson Rodríguez then explained why the seven at the bottom were considered the least promising.
Discussion took place regarding the two voting-related topics. Chair Dibble asked Ms. Munson Rodríguez if there could be more explanation about the voting topics added to the ballots that all legislators would be given, and Representative Quam suggested that the title of Automatic Voter Registration could be adjusted to include DPS to help distinguish the difference between the two. Ms. Randall cautioned members that if both topics were selected, that would be a large burden of work at OSS and suggested that if both were chosen, perhaps the timing of them could be staggered so they would not occur at the same time for OSS.
Senator Rest said that she would like to keep both of voting-related topics on the legislative survey to see which legislators would be more interested in, or which they might like to see evaluated first.
Representative Anderson then moved that the subcommittee take the top 11 most promising topics for further consideration with the understanding that if both voting-related topics were to be chosen on the legislative survey, the subcommittee would either pick one or sequence both at their next meeting. Senator Rest seconded Representative Anderson’s motion. The 11 topics selected were:
Chair Dibble requested a roll call vote; the motion carried unanimously. With no further discussion, Chair Dibble adjourned the meeting at 8:58 a.m.
Senator D. Scott Dibble, Chair
Evaluation Subcommittee
Maureen Garrahy, Recording Secretary
