Oregon Secretary of State Fagan releases audit plan

SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) -– Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan released her office's 2021-22 Audit Plan on Thursday.

The plan, which outlines the work the Audits Division plans to tackle in the coming year, focuses on critical areas of public concern, including: risks related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; increasing threats to public safety posed by domestic terrorism and violent extremism; the disproportionate impacts to Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Oregon tribes, rural communities, and our most vulnerable populations as the result of inequitable systems; and emergency management response challenges and lessons learned from the devastating 2020 wildfire season.

With this audit plan, Fagan said Oregon will be at the forefront in the effort to prioritize equity in auditing, aligned with government auditing leading practices being promulgated by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

“The work of the Audits Division is critically important to strengthening and improving the government services and agencies Oregonians interact with and rely on every single day,” Fagan said. “Long before the pandemic upended our everyday lives, Oregon faced a number of ongoing crises, affecting the lives of people in every community across the state.

"Unprecedented wildfires, COVID-19, and the resulting economic downturn only intensified the existing inequities burdening Oregonians in under-resourced regions and historically marginalized communities. This year’s audit plan is directed at many of those most pressing issues with an eye toward building a better Oregon for everyone.”

Among the audits in the 2021-22 plan are:

• An analysis of Oregon’s Unemployment Insurance Program, identifying the challenges the program faced early in the pandemic and working to ensure the system will be resilient in the face of a future crisis.
• An evaluation of the emergency response to the 2020 wildfires and recommendations for improvements in natural disaster responses in the future.
• An audit of our state’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution to ensure we are efficiently and equitably immunizing Oregonians while stopping the spread of this deadly virus.
• An inspection of rural water supplies and the environmental and contamination risks faced now and in the future.
• A look at domestic terrorism and ideologically motivated violent extremism in Oregon and law enforcement’s ability to deal with the threat.
• An assessment of the licensing and regulation of cannabis businesses and evaluation of how licensing considerations could address historical wrongs to Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and Oregon’s nine tribes.
• An overview of the types of calls received by state and local 911 systems and an equitable analysis of what and how public safety resources are deployed in response.
• An assessment of the state of cybersecurity in Oregon and determination of whether state agencies and local governments have effective and efficient information technology security frameworks and control structures.
• An analysis of the performance of Oregon’s mortgage interest deduction and a risk assessment of homeless services to determine how to improve coordinating and distributing services.

“This audit plan reflects Secretary Fagan’s and the Audits Division team’s commitment to using our skills and resources to execute high-impact audits examining government functions and services that are most relevant to the people who reside in our great state, especially those most vulnerable among us,” said Audits Director Kip Memmott.

“These audits are designed to ensure transparency of government operations and to help to build and maintain public trust through a look at both what is working well in service to the people of Oregon and what can be improved. I join Secretary Fagan in thanking the Governor’s Office, agency leaders, and legislators, especially members of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, for their ongoing support, cooperation, and collaboration.”

To view the full 2021-22 Audit Plan, click here.