Senate advances accountability, transparency bill

Senate advances accountability, transparency bill March 6, 2025

Sen. Michael J. Nemes, R-Shepherdsville, speaks on Senate Bill 257, a measure that calls for accountability and transparency in state operations. (Editor’s note: Nemes is wearing ashes on this forehead for Ash Wednesday.) A high-resolution photo can be found here.

FRANKFORT — A measure that calls for accountability and transparency in state government advanced out of the Kentucky Senate on Wednesday with a 32-6 vote.

Senate Bill 257 would create the Office of Government Efficiency within the state auditor’s office to conduct performance audits and fiscal reviews of state agencies, according to the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield.

“This bill is a continuing effort of fiscal responsibility. Since 2016, the general assembly has implemented fiscally conservative principles and policies that have led to the largest surplus in state history,” Tichenor said.

The measure also calls for monitoring implementation of efficiency-related recommendations and reporting findings annually to the governor and the Legislative Research Commission, she said.

SB 257 would provide the state auditor’s office with access to certain restricted funds for hiring staff as necessary. Long-term funding would come through appropriations from the general assembly and through any federal grants earmarked for government efficiency, Tichenor said.

Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong, D-Louisville, spoke against the measure, stating that the state needs Kentucky solutions to Kentucky problems.

“My concerns with this bill start, although they don’t end, with the title. And I know a title is just words, but these are words that have been intentionally chosen to invoke what is happening in Washington, D.C. under the federal DOGE program,” she said.

Chambers Armstrong said when she looks at the bill, it makes her think that the goal of the legislation is to bring that “same chaos” to Kentucky.

Sen. Michael J. Nemes, R-Shepherdsville, said he was also concerned that the general assembly is copying the federal government. However, he suggested that the federal government look at what Kentucky has done.

“The feds need to look at us. And like the senator from Jefferson also said, this is something that isn’t new, but it hasn’t been utilized since auditor Crit Luallen, a Democrat, years ago. She was touted for what she did because she did a great job. We again want to do that great job,” he said.

Senate Minority Caucus Chair Reginald L. Thomas, D-Lexington, voted against the bill and said the federal Department of Government Efficiency is politically charged.

“And what’s come out of it we’ve seen in the last four months is chaos, confusion, a loss of jobs and uncertainty and a great deal of social unrest. I would not like to see that duplicated here in Kentucky,” he said.

However, Sen. Gex Williams, R-Verona, said the efforts would be a good use of money, and the state auditor’s office is different than the federal one.

“The auditor is a constitutional officer. She has, or he has, a constitutional authority to do something and we, I think as a legislature, have a constitutional responsibility to fund that function that the auditor has,” he said.

The bill now heads to the House for consideration.

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https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/publicservices/pio/release.html#SB257-030525