Print Column: North Dakota No Longer Has an Independent Auditor Thanks to Burgum, Legislature
MINOT, N.D. — In the closing days of the 2019 legislative session lawmakers amended the budget for the Auditor’s Office to include language gutting that office’s authority.
Under this new language, the state auditor is on a leash held in the hands of the Legislature. His office may only initiate performance audits of state agencies with the permission of the Legislature or its audit committee.
Josh Gallion, a Republican who was elected auditor in 2016, has taken an aggressive approach to the duties of his office and it’s hard not to see the Legislature’s actions as retribution.
