Committee advances bill to ensure Attorney General receives copies of legislative audit referrals

Sen. Dave Wallace (District 19) presented SB259 to require Legislative Audit to provide courtesy copies of audit referral reports to the Attorney General's office, in addition to county prosecutors, and to replace the statutory word "timely" with a 45‑day response deadline. Wallace said the attorney general already has prosecutorial authority and this simply improves information flow so the AG's office can review cases referred by audit.

Committee members asked whether the bill imposes different penalties or obligations on the attorney general than on individual prosecutors; an attorney from the Attorney General's office (Alex Benton) said he did not have an immediate answer on that point but didn't indicate opposition. Wallace said the provision corrects an omission that in practice kept the AG's office from routinely seeing audit referrals.

The committee moved the bill forward after discussion; several members said the change would improve the ability to review cases without stripping prosecutorial discretion.