Testimony for the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee on SB 19
Barb Hinton, Legislative Post Auditor
January 20, 2005
Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, thank you for allowing me to appear before you in support of SB 19. I’m testifying on behalf of my office and the Legislative Post Audit Committee, which introduced the bill.
SB 19 would make all surveys we administer during the course of an audit confidential by law. Under current law, such surveys generally become public records once the audit is completed.
As part of my testimony, I’d like to briefly walk you through the attached memorandum from me to the Legislative Post Audit Committee, which provides the rationale for why I think this bill represents an important step in promoting good government in Kansas.
In the 27 years I’ve been in this office—the last 13 as Legislative Post Auditor—I would guess that agency officials have reviewed survey responses about a dozen times. Most often it happens after an audit when we’ve been asked to review serious personnel or managerial problems at an agency, and agency management want to see what their employees said. The latest review involved the Fire Marshal’s Office. That may not seem like a lot, but when you’re a State employee, I can assure you that just the knowledge that your boss can review what you write in a survey creates a chilling effect.
To help us protect employees’ identify when they report or make allegations of mismanagement, waste, inefficiencies, abuse, or other potential problems in a survey document, I would urge the Committee to give favorable consideration to this bill.