The State Budget Committee met on Wednesday and Republican members twice rejected a motion by State Senator John Broden (D-South Bend) calling for an independent audit of how $320 million was misplaced for over five years. The misplaced funds have sat unaccounted for in a Dept. of Revenue account since FY2007.
Sen. Broden offered two motions during the meeting calling for an independent audit of the matter, saying the audit was needed to restore the public’s faith and credibility in the state’s accounting and budgeting practices.
Sen. Broden: “I would like to move my amendment as well, I think it would dovetail with Chairman Horst’s amendment…”
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“It’s about faith, it’s about credibility and it’s about trust in government…”
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“One of the nice things about being a citizen legislature is being back in your community…”
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After Republican committee members argued that an internal review was sufficient, a motion was approved to have the State Board of Accounts look into the matter. However, it was under the watch of the SBOA that the error occurred and went undetected for more than five years.
Rep. Peggy Welch (D-Bloomington) commented that only having an internal review is like having “the fox guard the hen house.”
The State Budget Agency also published an updated state surplus statement that incorporates the $320M into the surplus.
In response to the audit denial, Senate Democrat Leader Vi Simpson and House Democrat Leader B. Patrick Bauer released the following statement:
“The Daniels administration misplaced 320 million in taxpayer dollars and overlooked it for more than five years. This isn’t small change, and it isn’t a small mistake. Yet, the Republicans don’t believe it justifies an independent audit on how and why this ‘mistake’ happened.
As legislators we have an obligation to the people of Indiana to provide oversight of taxpayer dollars. We believe the Republicans on the State Budget Committee are abdicating their legislative oversight responsibility. There is no ‘check on the balance’ in this situation.
Now the Republican legislators and the governor’s administration want to have the same agency that overlooked this for five years be responsible for reviewing how this fiscal irresponsibility occurred. Only an independent audit – absent the governor’s influence – can restore credibility and the public’s faith in the process.
The last two state budgets were based on misrepresented figures. We don’t know yet what other implications there may be. Rushing to sweep the matter under the rug is an injustice to the people of this state.
We call on our Republican colleagues in the General Assembly to do the right thing, act in a bipartisan way, and join us in calling for an independent audit.”
Indiana Senate Democrats: The Briefing Room 