Gov. Mike Parson has signed legislation into law that gives the Missouri State Auditor more authority and transparency.
Sen. Travis Fitzwater, R-Holts Summit, handled the bill in the Senate. He said that this bill holds the government accountable.
“One protects whistleblowers, and it also gives the auditor authority over investigations to investigate more fraud waste and abuse in our state government and municipalities and any political entity in the state of Missouri,” he said. “That just made a lot of sense.”
State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, who was at the bill signing, said that this proposal will help him do his job.
“People can make complaints to us about local government waste, fraud, and abuse right now through our whistleblower hotline, but we’re pretty limited in what we can do with that. If it’s at a city or some kind of local political subdivision, we can make an inquiry to look into if those complaints are credible, but we currently don’t have subpoena power during an investigation,” Fitzpatrick said.
The bill specifies that the auditor may audit all or part of a local government if they believe improper government activity has occurred, or when requested by a prosecuting attorney, circuit attorney, or law enforcement agency as part of an investigation. The bill defines “improper governmental activity” as official misconduct, fraud, misappropriation, mismanagement, waste of resources, or a violation of state or federal law.
“So much money, especially over the last several years with COVID dollars has been distributed across our state and we need to make sure it’s been distributed well and done right,” Fitzwater added.
Another provision of the bill specifies that testimony and records obtained through subpoenas issued by the auditor are subject to the same confidentiality and disclosure agreements.
“So, what this will do is it will allow us to have that subpoena power during the investigative state, which we currently have during audits,” said Auditor Fitzpatrick. “It will allow us if we determine that there is a likelihood of fraud taking place and that the complaints that we receive are credible, it will allow us to begin an audit.”
Fitzpatrick concluded that a majority of fraud happens inside smaller government entities, where there’s fewer controls in place to prevent fraud.
The bill becomes law on August 28.
Click here for more information.
© 2024, Missourinet.