The Legislative Oversight Working Group, co-chaired by Senator Todd Weiler (UT) and Assemblymember David Alvarez (CA), gathers to exchange ideas on successes and improvements to enhance oversight practices in legislative institutions. This effort aims to improve government accountability, transparency, and responsiveness.
This year’s program focused on the importance of legislative oversight in promoting accountability and transparency in government. Speakers emphasized the need for effective hearings, compromise, consensus-building, and the role of legislative auditors and lawmakers in routine oversight. They also discussed the challenges of working in a fast-paced environment and the importance of collaboration and integrating different perspectives to succeed in legislative work. Additionally, speakers shared their experiences and insights on effectively planning and executing meetings, including proper training, planning, and managing unexpected issues.
Legislative oversight and its role in government
Ian McKnight, from the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy, introduced the importance of legislative oversight and best practices. Oversight is the ability of lawmakers to scrutinize and hold government agencies accountable for their actions. He highlighted the importance of oversight in ensuring that government agencies are transparent and efficient and provide a resource for further learning. Lawmakers use oversight to ensure executive branch compliance with laws.
The cycle of accountability of legislative oversight
McKnight focused on accountability and legislators’ role by stating: “In serving as the eyes and voice of the people, you are fostering the democratic conversation on whether and how well the government is keeping its promises.”
In serving as the “eyes and voice” of the people:
- Legislators engaged in oversight operate in a cycle that begins with recognizing a problem to be solved, followed by conducting some investigation with hearings, reports, or letters of inquiry to executive agencies or private entities.
- The investigation’s findings should inform policies proposed in legislation (if necessary), eventually becoming law.
- Usually, agencies issue regulations authorized by the new statutes. (Legislatures can oversee and contribute to this process.)
- Executive agencies implement those regulations; they may issue contracts to private partners to execute programs.
- Ultimately, we get outcomes (good or bad) that lawmakers, acting as the people’s eyes and voice, are duty-bound to follow up on.
- This accountability is not just between the legislative and executive branches; it is, most importantly, for the public.
Remarks from The Levin Center 2021 Winner of the Carl Levin Award for Effective Oversight — State Senator Sara Gelser Blouin (OR)
Recognized for her legislative oversight work in the Oregon State Senate, Senator Gelser was involved with investigating child foster care contracts and the state’s child welfare system. Senator Gelser unintentionally began her foray into oversight when she learned that children in Oregon’s foster care system were going out of state. What started as an innocent query led to a series of events, unlikely interactions, and a trip to Nebraska to track down files personally. Her journey is detailed in an interview that can be accessed here on the Levin Center website.
According to Senator Gelser, legislative oversight can be tricky once you are in the process. For the most part, it has yet to be the culture of the legislature or legislators to engage in oversight functions. Below are some of her takeaways.
Legislative oversight and child welfare in Oregon
- Legislative oversight in government is crucial but often overlooked.
- Oversight plays a vital role in the legislature’s and related entities’ checks and balances.
- Listening to constituents’ concerns in legislation is essential, particularly in child welfare.
Oversight challenges and conflicts faced while returning children from group homes to their families
- Increased funding and better tools are needed to help return children from facilities.
- She had to personally contact CMS to investigate records of restraint and abuse in an Illinois facility where they sent Oregon children.
- She described a facility with inadequate training and safety measures, which led to a child’s death.
- Media attention and public pressure resulted in the remaining children coming home and ending the program.
Child welfare system, subpoenas, and oversight
- Another challenge in advocating for foster children includes legal battles and financial costs.
- She highlighted the importance of raising questions and doing work to protect foster children despite obstacles and costs.
- She emphasized the importance of addressing the risk of public funds in foster care, citing $24 million in unaccounted funds in Oregon alone.
- She stressed the need to prioritize the well-being of children in foster care, citing instances of trauma, abuse, and neglect and emphasizing the impact on their future.
Fictional Oversight Scenario: Oversight of homelessness issues in various regions
The group brainstormed an oversight plan for homelessness:
Participants broke out into small groups for the exercise. Attendees reported finding the valuable exercise as a first step. They are eager to try a more robust exercise provided with more time in the future. Key takeaways included:
- Crafting the factual question should narrow the scope so that the discovery portion is more streamlined.
- Identifying avenues can be difficult because there are so many—what is the best way to refine the list? How should it be refined?
Ideally, the timeline should be reasonable; however, given Senator Gelser’s presentation, it may take a lot of work to nail down a realistic deadline, given the number of unknown entities, documents, and procedures.
“It is the proper duty of a representative body to look diligently into every affair of government and to talk much about what it sees. It is meant to be the eyes and the voice, and to embody the wisdom and will of its constituents.”
— United States Supreme Court1
Next Steps
- The Legislative Oversight Working Group will meet virtually over the next several months to update the Western Legislative Oversight Handbook.
- Members collaborating on revising the handbook will do so in tandem with the Oregon Legislature’s drafting of their oversight resources, which will also be shared.
- The working group will continue to explore sub-regional training led by the Levin Center.
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1 Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP, 140 S.Ct. 2019, 2031 (2020), citing United States v. Rumely, 345 U. S. 41, 43 (1953).