Getting the Most Out of Legislative Oversight

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"Getting the Most Out of Legislative Oversight"

Moderator:

Ron Perry, Staff Coordinator, Washington Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee, Washington

Panelists:

Roger Brooks, Deputy Legislative Auditor, Office of the Legislative Auditor, Minnesota

Representative Val Ogden, Democratic Co-Speaker Pro Tempore, Washington

Gary VanLandingham, Deputy Director, Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, Florida

This panel discussion centered around ways that legislative program evaluation and performance auditing agencies can maximize their impact, especially in the area of providing timely and relevant information to legislators.

Ron Perry (Washington) introduced the panelists and provided a brief overview of the session. Roger Brooks (Minnesota) then began his presentation entitled, "Evaluations That Make a Difference," which focused on ways for legislators and evaluation staff to work together to improve legislative oversight of state government. Roger suggested six strategies to meet this objective: selecting the right topic, building an audience, focusing research on what needs to change, creating attractive and readable products, timing evaluations appropriately, and spreading evaluation results effectively. Roger also provided some observations about measuring the impact of evaluations in terms of agency and legislative use.

Next, Gary VanLandingham (Florida) presented his comments on how Florida's OPPAGA has tried to maximize its impact with legislators and the legislative process. Gary explained how maximizing impact isn't just a matter of improving communication-it is a core organizational value. Focusing on what a legislature needs and meeting those needs on a timely basis is very important if an evaluation agency wants to maximize its impact. Gary also explained some "barriers" to impact (e.g., overemphasizing independence) and outlined several strategies for increasing legislative impact. These included: using a "lobbyist" approach, utilizing multiple communication channels, sharing information whenever possible, performing ongoing market research to identify audit topics, building relationships with senior legislative staff and members, and publishing user-friendly reports.

Finally, Representative Val Ogden (Washington) provided the audience with comments on the legislative oversight process from a member's perspective. Rep. Ogden has served on Washington's Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee for over a decade. Rep. Ogden observed that although JLARC's reports are excellent, in the past they were often overlooked by the legislature. The use of advisory groups has helped remedy this situation. Ron Perry further explained how JLARC has used advisory groups to draw legislators and other types of stakeholders into the evaluation process. This has helped JLARC educate legislators on its study process and reports. It has also assisted JLARC's efforts to identify study issues that are of specific interest to the legislature. Overall, Rep. Ogden noted that advisory groups can help make the legislative oversight process more effective by: defining and limiting the scope of studies, keeping legislators and staff interested in a study and its application in their work, providing in-depth information about a subject, and ensuring that the audit/study is used by the legislature.