Lawmakers will form a new committee when they return to the Capitol next week.
Members of the Government Oversight Committee say they plan to focus on broader issues within state government, including problems highlighted in audits.
“To me this is really about oversight,” said Rep. Devin Carney (R-Old Saybrook), who is slated to be a ranking Republican on the new committee.
Every state agency is assigned to an existing legislative committee and the Government Administration and Elections Committee(GAE) had purview over reports from the state auditors.
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But Rep. Jason Rojas (D-Majority Leader) said GAE and other committees are too busy responding to other issues.
Thousands of bills are proposed each year and Rojas said that leaves little time for the legislature to focus on oversight of the executive branch.
“Because of the part-time nature of the legislature, I don’t know that we act like an oversight committees and we should be,” Rojas said.
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Lawmakers also expect the GAE to have its hands full with election proposals.
Voters this past fall approved expanded absentee ballots to all registered voters.
Lawmakers will need to come up with a process, but Rep. Matt Blumenthal (D-Stamford) said that creates a chance to look more broadly at the state’s election process.
This can also include changes to early voting, security improvements and other proposals.
“This new constitutional change gives us the opportunity to more fundamentally reevaluate our election system,” said Blumenthal, GAE co-chairman.
Lawmakers are still uncertain about the exact role of the new Oversight Committee, but they believe audits are a good starting point.
One recent report questioned state vehicle usage by employees at the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
Another found the Department of Correction overpaid one employee $160,000. And a December audit by the comptroller questioned spending by Connecticut State College and Universities leaders.
“The hope would be that they conduct a review of all the audits of the bipartisan auditors over the past few years, some of them showing some stark negligence in the very least,” Sen. Stephen Harding (R-Minority Leader) said.
