Audit division urges commission to revisit sunset laws, periodic evaluations and privatization review

Angus McKeever, legislative audit director, summarized a memo prepared for the audit committee asking the commission to revisit several sets of statutes that are outmoded or unclear. McKeever identified three primary statute groups: sunset laws (historical mechanisms for periodic review of agencies or programs), a related periodic agency-evaluation statute, and a privatization-plan review process originally designed to scrutinize executive proposals to privatize services.

McKeever said many of those statutory provisions date to the late 1970s and early 1980s and include archaic language and concepts. He suggested the committee could work with the audit division to inventory relevant statutes and decide "what do you just get rid of versus what do you revise" so that any reforms fit the commission’s data-and-outcomes orientation.

Several commissioners asked whether statutory clean-ups could be pursued without changing the intent of funds or programs; McKeever said a structured, statutory process would help institutionalize regular review and reduce recurring mistakes that produce audit findings. The commission did not vote; audit staff will continue research and return with recommendations to the audit committee and later the commission.