Sen. Kim Hammer asks committee to repeal narrow audit-reporting mandate

Senator Kim Hammer (District 16) told the Senate State Agencies Committee he sponsored a statute that defined how savings from a prior transformation bill would be measured. He asked the committee to repeal that statute, saying the office of Legislative Audit now handles such reviews through normal auditing procedures and the specific, stand‑alone reporting requirement has served its purpose.

Kevin White of Arkansas Legislative Audit told the committee the reports produced under the earlier statute are preserved permanently on the audit office website and available on request. “Like all of our reports, they are permanently stored,” he said, answering a senator’s question about record retention.

Hammer said repealing the statute would remove an unnecessary burden from the audit bureau and leave oversight to routine budget and audit processes. The committee moved to repeal the act as amended; Senator Dodson moved, Senator Hester seconded, and the committee advanced the repeal by voice vote.

The repeal will proceed through the regular legislative process.