How Oregon agencies keep track of funds, or fail to | The Story | June 13, 2024

[Music] I'm Pat Doris welcome to the story tonight we're going to talk about what's going right in the state of Oregon and what's going wrong we'll take a look through the eyes of our state Auditors they're an example I think of what's going right and they're really good at pointing out what's going wrong and that makes it our big story tonight who wants to talk about audits now I know when I say that you just want to jump up off your couch or out of your chair uh or maybe not but I think it's really cool and I think it's really interesting and exciting so we are going to dive in I think Auditors are the superheroes of state government they monitor how the massive government Machinery is working and they ask uncomfortable questions to make sure the taxpayer money is being used the way it's supposed to be used with that in mind let's take a look at a recent release by the Secretary of State's Auditors who put out a mass report on a variety of programs that they audited in 2023 they call it keeping Oregon accountable a big part of this was monitoring the billions of dollars in extra tax money that the state got as a result of the pandemic they identified the Auditors that is $2.9 billion in accounting errors which they pointed out were unintentional mistakes they proposed ways to fix those mistakes by the way they combed through the books of 18 Federal programs and 11 State agen gencies and issued 31 findings and recommendations they also found big problems with internal controls which are the mechanisms rules procedures you know the stuff used to make sure the money goes where it's supposed to in the following programs low-income home energy assistance program the block grants for Community Mental Health Services block grants for prevention and treatment of substance abuse the Medicaid cluster and temporary assistance for needy families or tanif all right so we're going to dig into a few of those with the help of a top state auditor named Michelle CIS we audit a lot of programs as mandated by the federal government we find a lot of things and we report them as required um we find some common issues amongst various agencies and programs one of those being subrecipient monitoring uh so the distribution of funds to other entities such as cities and counties and Community Action agencies uh nonprofits things like that okay so Michelle throwing some technical lingo up right off the top there subrecipient monitoring how's that that's an important term just to make sure that you have that down that's when the agency gets money and then passes it along to another agency to go do some important work that first agency though is supposed to keep track of what's happening to the money but that does not always happen an example of that was found at the Oregon Department of Emergency Management Federal rules say the agency is supposed to evaluate the risk that groups they're giving the money to will follow federal laws and the terms of the program for which they're getting the money sounds simple enough e this comes into play though when there's a presidential disaster declaration for example as a part of receiving Federal money if you're Distributing it to subrecipients you have to have a risk assessment process in place so there's some questions you ask of the entity that you're sending money to to basically see how they will handle the money so that you know how to monitor them do they get Federal GRS a lot do they know how to do it or is this their first time getting a Federal Grant and you may have to keep a closer eye on them to make sure they're spending the money you're giving them appropriately now the auditor report in 2020 found OEM had no systemic policies or procedures in place to evaluate that so in 2023 they circled back and picked a random sample of 36 groups getting money from the agency they found that four had not even bothered to return a questionnaire about their practices and one of the four was not even listed as a group getting money on the spreadsheet that tracked those groups the Auditors told the agency fix that problem will you they also noted that there has been a lot of turnover and changed there as OEM became its own agency out from under the Oregon Military Department last year here's another big problem Auditors found with the tanif program it's a temporary program that gives cash to families with children who are lwi Income the Auditors found problems with this program stretching back 14 years federal regulations require the state to collect information monthly and file it quarterly with the feds on people getting the money under the tanif program a second program requiring the state to spend at least a certain amount for needy families also requires quarterly reports to the feds well the federal government told the state that data sent to them was just wrong and the department could not provide the correct data to the state Auditors when they asked for it because of that state Auditors could not test to see if the programs were working correctly that included things like making sure that less than 20% of the clients were enrolled in the program for more than five years also special tests relating to client penalties for refusal to work special tests for failure to comply with work verification plans and tests relating to a lack of child care for single parents of children under 6 years old so it was a bunch of stuff our experts says it is a problem that has been going on for a long time Department of Human Services has been administering the temporary assistance for needy families program for many many many years uh they had a prior systems where we found many years ago the data wasn't being reported correctly in these quarterly reports they're required to file so they have to report on number of cases um type of cases a variety of different data elements that are required in their reports and we found at that time that it wasn't including all of the information it was incomplete or wrong when it was coming out of the system into these reports then they transition to a new new system three years ago um things got worse for a little bit they are improving but we're still finding challenges with those reports being correct incorrectly pulled out of the system the data is not coming out of the system and getting put into those reports as they should be for reporting those data elements they need to be she said everyone is working hard to fix the problem but it's still not fixed another example is the Department of early learning and care which is a new new Standalone state agency the agency gets Federal money to help children in Oregon thrive in early childhood and Beyond Auditors report that the agency could charge either a higher rate or a lower rate to the feds depending on the services they were providing the Auditors found the agency only charged the higher rate and over bu the feds by $400,000 they told the agency pay that money back and check to see if something similar had happened in earlier years management said yeah okay we'll do that so that's a reason I think Auditors are superheroes there's just no way that you or I would ever figure out what was happening inside that or other agencies but every year dozens of smart people with sharp pencils go through the books and hold these agencies accountable I think it's great it's an ongoing solution for Oregon something I think we should all feel good about here's just a few other examples I found in the report the Oregon liquor and cannabis commission the agency is required to send 20% of the tax it collects to cities and 56% to the general fund within 35 days of the end of each month well the Auditors found the agency using two different accounting systems which resulted in sending too much money that was the first problem they also found the agency sent the money on time two times during the entire year so that's another problem and while we're talking about them the state controls all 283 liquor stores in Oregon did you know there was that many each one is supposed to be audited each and every year the Auditors found that 22 not audited at all and here's another you may have heard about the disastrous roll out of the new payroll system called workday in April of last year we talked with state employees who were Furious they were not getting paid correctly Auditors report that with the first paychecks issued on January 3rd of 2023 there were problems of the state's roughly 45,000 employees there were a total of $3.5 million in overpayments in January 4 500 people were either paid too little or too much in February 2767 employees were not paid correctly and then in March 2,151 employees got paid the wrong amount Auditors found the roll out of the new system was either not sufficiently scoped or not properly conducted and when they asked for a list of problems when they were identified saying hey show us the problems show us when they were identified show us when they were solved they were told there's not a list that exists like that it is very interesting it's not uncommon for us to ask for things like that when looking at it systems just to see what issues there are how they're resolved and not having that kind of tracking was a challenge for us to audit around as well yeah interesting so there you have it just some of the work of the Oregon Auditors over this past year I think it's impressive I may not be such a fan if I was a manager of the program getting scrutinized them I guess but as a taxpayer I am I'm thrilled are there keep up the good work my friends Oregon needs you now it's your turn what do you think about all these findings part for the course Auditors being too strict too tough or are you happy they're there you know the drill you can call or write to share your thoughts the email address is the story at kgw.com or call and leave a voicemail 503 22659 I look forward to hearing from you let's turn our Focus now to an ongoing issue in the Oregon Court system it's the lack of public defenders at the end of May a federal appeals court upheld a lower courts ruling that requires the state to release defendants from jail after 7 days if they've not yet been appointed a lawyer it was a 2 to1 vote by the 9th circuit court judge John Owens described the case as a sixth amendment nightmare now for those of you who are unaware the sixth amendment is what guarantees a criminal defendant's right to an attorney judge Owens even went so far as comparing the states public defender crisis to people sitting in jails without lawyers during the times of the Soviet Union he wrote you might think this passage comes from the 1970 State Department report on some autocratic regime in the Soviet block unfortunately we do not need to go back in time or across the ocean to witness this kafa s scene this is the state of Oregon in 2024 a little dramatic judge according to judge Owens some people have gone months in jail without counsel including at least one person who was in for a whole year a spokes personman for the State Department of Justice told Oregon's public broadcasting they reviewing whether the state will appeal this latest decision to the full 9th circuit but for now that release without a lawyer in 7even days rule that stands let's dig deeper into the public defender crisis for a moment a big part of it comes from changes made in 2021 and 2022 when the then governing body of the Public Defense System altered pay and case load rules judge Owens looked at that and talked about it in his opinion as well these changes rendered Public Defense work financially untenable and many private attorneys stopped taking criminal defense cases he writes while individuals continued to be arrested and charged with crimes they were no longer enough lawyers to represent them by September 2023 nearly 3,000 people were waiting for council with more than a hundred of them sitting in jail the situation got so bad that lawmakers decided to start from scratch and get rid of the Public Defense Services Commission which had run this they created a brand new commission the Oregon Public Defense commission and the new group officially got started at the beginning of this year the legislature in set Bill 337 and even before that has required us to transition to a workload model and we know how to do that now it's math we have the we have the formula we just have to come up with the plan and so they did come up with a plan in March they released a draft six-year plan that aims to completely fill the public defender Gap by 2031 it's pretty simple just hire 80 full-time lawyers every single year for a total of 480 new lawyers but it won't be cheap the commission estimates their budget would need to more than double in those six years from about $576 million now to more than $1.3 billion by 2031 the commission admits it plan its plan does have some issues it's the most expensive option by far and it doesn't take into account current turnover rates of public defenders or even retiring attorneys or recent measures passed in Oregon's legislature that might soon increase case loads those measures include the rec criminalization of drugs under house bill 4002 which starts by the way in just two and a half months it also does not address needs in other areas like mental health care for defendants while they're going through the court system when I first became an attorney uh in Mol county if attorney had Fitness concerns they were raised sort of ad hoc with various judges and I my sense of things was just uh we did not have uh as many intense like mental health needs in our clients um then in 2008 that we've seen uh in the last like six years or so um so we have to raise Fitness concerns um Mol county actually created a special docket just to address Fitness concerns and we've seen that docket grow and expand over the years um it's now uh one and a half sometimes two days of attorney work uh just Staffing inist cases there's actually a study that was done about the houselessness population in Portland and when I started as I said I started in paid capacity at entity in 2015 and between 2015 and 2023 um it increased 65% P um and and you have you add to that you know the increase of prevalence of mental health and then also you know with pentanol and you know uh the P2P strain of meth our clientele is is struggling to to find basic stability and you know Stacy mentioned that there's an expectation from the the state of more mitigation and really a lot of what they're looking for is stability in our CLI they want to make sure that they are stable in the community um before making a probation offer rather than prison offer and you know a lot of that work is traditionally fall into ATT to find that ability to um you know search out the the scarce resources that are available that are available in the community especially um to our client the commission did throw out some other ideas that do not require hiring more lawyers things like decriminalizing certain low-level and nonvictim crimes and repealing things like Measure 11 which set mandatory minimum sentences for serious crimes against people the commission argues the measure did not actually work to reduce case loads although that was not the point of Measure 11 it was to impose stiffer sentences the commission also suggested increasing the number of non-attorney support staff who are not paid as highly and can help lawyers with their cases the commission says these long-term solutions would reduce the state's overall need for public defenders up next on the story the Portland Police Bureau is bringing back its crowd control unit and today the mayor and police chief talked about what will be different this time around compared to 2020 from body cameras to how much it's going to cost Blair best has details when the story [Music] returns e e e e you're going to want to mark your calendars for this exactly a month from today OD do will be shutting down both directions of i84 for a graffiti and litter cleanup Mission it will affect vehicles and Max service from 11:00 p.m. on July 13th that's a Saturday until noon on Sunday July 14th this map shows the 5m stretch that will be closed between i5 and 205 the mission will includes six agencies ODOT Union Pacific triet peot Metro and mola County with around 100 workers taking part they're going to start near downtown and then work East and while the focus is on cleaning up graffiti and trash ODOT says Crews may do other maintenance work including cleaning up some of the signs that are covered in paint this is all possible thanks to the state State Legislature directing an extra 20 million of your tax dollars to ODOT 4 million of which is specifically for graffiti removal for those of you who depend on Max service in that area triat says they may need a couple of hours after i84 reopens that Sunday at noon in order to re-energize their system earlier this year we told you how Portland Police are bringing back their rapid response team or crowd control to deal with things like political protests that get out of hand the bureau was highly criticized for its use of excessive force during the 2020 protest today mayor Ted wheeler and police chief Bob day say they've made substantial changes when it comes to training and how officers could respond if they're needed Blair best has our story scenes from 2020 protests in Portland are hard to forget the destruction and violence caught the nation's attention changing downtown to this day during this time the Portland Police Bureau was hit with lawsuits over their use of force one officer who was part of the bureau's rapid response team which worked during the protests faced a fourth-degree assault charge for hitting a photographer in the head with a baton that charge was ultimately dismissed and he publicly apologized but it prompted the entire rapid response team's resignation a city audit later found shortcomings in the bureau's response to protests 12 recommendations came out of that report including creating a new crowd control unit that unit still called rapid response starts team training this week here are some of the new members at a Thursday morning press conference they do represent um you know the best of the best that we have 42 existing officers and eight sergeants make up the team many of them responded to the 2020 protests my belief and my hope is that this time around as an organization we will do a better job supporting them in the challenge that we're asking them to take on as well as as a community a civil rights attorney at the Oregon Justice Center who represented some 2020 injured protesters is cautious of the return of the rapid response team telling KGW in a statement in part quote we're going to be repeating past mistakes and people will be hurt because of it and really believe in the uh importance and purpose of of maintaining Public Safety uh peace and order at these events I think that's our overall uh um motivation and goal uh to returning to this team each member will wear body cameras and get a pay raise costing the bureau an additional $38,000 a year they are required to go through 96 hours of yearly training focused on deescalation techniques and use of force among other things our expectations are high we expect officers to embody their training and engage with the community with Integrity as well as with resolve this all comes at a time when political protests are making a slow return to Portland streets and as the community braces for the upcoming election season and the potential for more violence freedom of expression is embodied in the core of our City's character and we all value the sanctity of those rights but these rights are not Without Limits they are not a free pass to cause destruction a city officials are calling on the community to do their part too they say this is not just a Portland Police Bureau issue the mayor is asking people to demonstrate passionately but peacefully the rapid response team starts training together on Friday Blair best KGW [Music] News e e e e how do you feel about thousands of naked sweaty people riding bikes around your neighborhood each summer well if you're one of the people who doesn't like it you're going to get a break this summer the Portland World Naked Bike Ride is cancelling this year sorry to all of those of you who do like it for many people it's an iconic part of weird Portland but the organizers say they just couldn't get enough volunteers to put on the event this year it's a massive event sometimes drawing up to 10,000 people to ride naked through the streets of Portland during the hottest part of the summer organizers say they intended to start planning for the event in September of last year but it didn't happen and by the spring they realized they were really far behind and they needed to call it off this year they say they do plan to bring back the ride next year I wouldn't be surprised if some people just do it themselves according to the blog bike Portland it takes about 170 people to coordinate the big ride each year they plan where the cyclists are going to meet usually at a park in Portland and the route through the city which is kept secret until the big day usually it's a couple of miles they have to coordinate with peabot Portland Police and tret and it's all volunteers other cities have Naked Bike Rides but Portland is typically the biggest in the country it started in 2004 with just over a 100 Riders and has now grown to thousands it's meant to be a protest against fossil fuels and to demonstrate the vulnerability of bicyclists on the road and also a celebration of body positivity and if you're wondering yes it is legal to be in Portland and naked if it's part of a public protest so what do you think about that are you bummed that it's not going to happen this year or are you kind of excited that it's canceled have you Tak part what is it that you like about it if you've done it let us know will you you can contact all the ways that we show you there on the screen the story at kgw.com for your emails and 503 22659 for your phone calls that's the end of our show by the way thanks for watching and remember our story the collective story well that never ends the good stuff's coming your way next I'll see you right back here tomorrow night 6:30 he

Channel: KGW News

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Keywords: the story kgw, kgw the story, the story pat dooris, Oregon Secretary of State, Oregon audit, Oregon Audits Division, government spending, government waste, government oversight, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Oregon Department of Emergency Management

Id: APwhjsHZUdw

Length: 28min 0sec (1680 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 14 2024