Agency Responses to Audit Recommendations
| Previous Audit Recommendations | Agency Updates as of August 2025 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audit Report | ID | Recommendation | Current Status | Description of Current Status | |
| Secretary of State | |||||
| Reviewing Kansas’s Procedures for Election Security, Part 2 (2023) | 1 | The Secretary of State’s office should create example election security policies and standardized forms to offer to county election officers to use at their discretion. The Secretary of State’s office should consider working with officials from counties with stronger practices to adapt these practices for all counties to use. | In Progress | The agency continues to work with county election officials to identify additional election security policies and election administrative forms to add to the current catalog of standardized processes and forms. This outreach is moving into standardizing work flow processes in the statewide voter registration system. The agency consults with a work group of county election officials who meet weekly to identify, develop and review processes and forms for improvement and standardization. The agency also provided an outline of areas to address in the counties annual security procedure review that took place earlier this year. | 2 | The Secretary of State’s office should use county election officers’ annual training or new certification program to train them in the importance, proper implementation, and effective oversight of election security statutes and best practices. This would include guidance on which security best practices counties should implement as a baseline. | Have Implemented | The Secretary of State’s office has used annual training over multiple years to provide security training, which has included presentations from security officials and private security specialists. Ensuring election security is an ongoing process that occurs throughout the year, therefore, providing training, information, and best practices is not limited to annual training. | 3 | The Secretary of State’s office should provide guidance to county election officers on what materials to seal in ballot containers and what materials should not be sealed so they are available for public review. | Have Implemented | The Secretary of State’s office routinely reminds counties of the requirements of KSA 25-3008 both prior to and following each election. This reminder occurs both verbally and in writing, Further, during certification training, counties are instructed on ballot security measures and retention laws, with emphasis on what should and should not be included in sealed ballot containers. This guidance is also provided in the election standards. |
| Kansas Department of Education | |||||
| Evaluating At-Risk Expenditures and Statutory Compliance (2023) | 1 | The department should ensure that its guidance document accurately reflects the at-risk related statutes. | Have Implemented | The guidance documents have been updated for 2024-2025 and 2025-2026. Guidance will continue to be reviewed and updated with the implementation of changes to KSA 72-3574 and KSA 72-5153. | 2 | The department should re-review all currently approved programs to ensure that approved programs meet all the requirements described in state law. | Have Implemented | KSDE has reviewed each item on the Evidence-Based Programs and Practices list and the Kansas State Board of Education has approved the list for 2024-2025. KSDE will provide updates for State Board approval on an annual basis in compliance with KSA 72-5153. | 3 | Districts should review K.S.A. 72-5153, which specifies allowable uses for spending from the at-risk fund, and ensure that their policies, training, and guidance are in alignment with those laws. | Have Implemented | As part of the 2024 KSDE Budget Workshops, districts were provided with updated guidance for the expenditure of at-risk funds. Currently, thirteen districts are participating in a pilot to develop new procedures for at-risk expenditure reporting in accordance with KSA 72-3574. In 2026-2027, all districts will receive updated guidance and training for implementation of the requirements of KSA 72-3574. |
| The African American Affairs Commission | |||||
| Reviewing the African American Affairs Commission’s Statutory Compliance and Expenditures (2023) | 1 | The executive director should ensure the commission holds an annual vote for Chair and Secretary positions in accordance with state law. | Have Implemented | The commission held elections on July 7, 2023, re-electing Mark McCormick as chair and Jonathan McRoy as vice-chair. The next election will be at the last meeting before the end of the next fiscal year. | 2 | The executive director should ensure the commission elects several members to each of the standing committees included in the commission’s bylaws. | Have Implemented | During the August 11, 2023 meeting, each commission member volunteered for each of the standing committees. Currently, there is at least one commissioner on each of the standing committees. Standing committee membership will be finalized once the bylaw review is complete. | 3 | The executive director should get written approval from the Governor’s Office for all non-routine expenses to ensure there’s documentation of the purpose and planned amount before proceeding with the activity. | Have Implemented | KAAAC Commissioners continue to maintain access to the commission’s financials. That said, the commission is currently updating the bylaws to formalize how this information can be more easily shared in the future. This may involve restructuring the committees to add a finance or budget committee or adding a treasurer position to the commission. | 4 | The executive director should share the commission’s budget details and financial transactions (in detail or summary) with the commission periodically and on request. | Have Implemented | The bylaws were completed at the November 2024 KAAAC meeting. There is a budget committee that shares oversight on the budget with the executive director. The committee must have one member from all political parties represented on KAAAC at the time. | 5 | The executive director should provide training to commissioners to clarify what travel expenses are reimbursable, and inform members of the process to claim and submit such expenditures. | Have Implemented | The Director of Finance and Office Management for the Governor’s Office provided such training at the December meeting. This would have happened earlier but the bylaws took much more time than anticipated. |
| Department of Revenue | |||||
| Evaluating the Rural Opportunity Zones Program (2023) | 1 | Commerce and Revenue should develop a way to identify individuals participating in both parts of the ROZ program to enhance the quality of future program evaluations. | Have Implemented | As part of the application process for the student loan repayment assistance program, the Department of Commerce has begun collecting social security numbers (SSN’s) from the individuals that have applied for and been approved for the program. The Department of Commerce will share pertinent information (including the SSN’s) from the student loan repayment assistance program with the Department of Revenue. The Department of Revenue will match the student loan repayment assistance data with the individuals that are claiming the rural opportunity zone income tax credit and have it available for future program evaluations. | |
| Reviewing the Department of Revenue’s Procedures to Ensure Correct Payment of Sales and Compensating Use Taxes on Motor Vehicle Sales (2024) | 1 | KDOR should create and implement the missing procedures we pointed out under the heading “ KDOR was missing 2 procedures related to the monitoring and enforcement of counties.“ | Have Implemented |
Beginning in April 2024, a report has been generated on the 10th of every month that is distributed to the individuals in the positions listed in the response. This report enables the Department to contact those local governments that may be delinquent in filing sales tax returns or in submitting payments and to work with these local governments to ensure compliance with statutory sales tax reporting requirements. The Department is exploring the possibility of utilizing the county registration data to identify questionable sales prices or tax exemptions. It is currently beginning a pilot project by reviewing commercial vehicle transactions and whether exemption certificates that have been presented are valid or appropriate. Once, this project is completed, staff will explore the utilization of county data for personal vehicle transactions to determine the feasibility of verifying the validity of sales prices and exemptions. |
2 | KDOR should develop and implement a process to improve the accuracy of existing and ongoing vehicle registration data submitted through MOVRS. | In Progress | The Department is continuing to work with current IT resources to refine the vehicle registration report. The updated report is expected to be deployed to production by the end of next month. | 3 | KDOR should provide the current, up-to-date sales tax guidance document to the dealership portal. They should also provide tax guidance updates in the portal as those are made. They should consider if there are points in time where they should offer dealerships a chance to retake KDOR training. | Have Implemented | The link to Publication KS-1526, Business Taxes for Motor Vehicle Transactions was added to the Dealer Portal on April 5, 2024. Additionally, the Department has published to the Dealer Portal, notification for any dealer needing additional training on sales tax to contact the Department. The Dealer Portal also now provides reminders that sales tax returns are due on the 25th day of each month. As guidance is developed or updated, the Department will publish to the Dealer Portal. As way of example, the Department recently published the following to the Dealer Portal: Notice 24-19, Used Motor Vehicle Sales Transactions; Frequently Asked Questions About the Sale of a Used Motor Vehicle within 120 Days of the Purchase of a New or Used Motor Vehicle; and Form ST-21VT, Request for Sales Tax Refund of a Motor Vehicle Sold within 120 Days of a New or Used Motor Vehicle Purchase. These three documents were developed based on legislation (2024 House Bill 2098) passed during the 2024 legislative session. | 4 | KDOR should formally document all existing and new procedures related to motor vehicle training, guidance, monitoring, and enforcement. | Have Implemented |
The Sales Tax area within the Department has a PowerPoint document on the processes for verifying and processing returns of all county sales tax/compensating use tax accounts. Enforcement procedures in place for all sales tax/compensating use tax accounts may be imposed for county accounts if needed. The dealer sales tax/compensating use tax accounts are not treated any differently than any other sales tax/compensating use tax accounts. There are multiple documents for training, guidance, monitoring and enforcement for these accounts. These documents are updated with any legislative, policy or procedural changes as soon as reasonably possible. |
| Department of Commerce | |||||
| Evaluating the Rural Opportunity Zones Program (2023) | 1 | Commerce and Revenue should develop a way to identify individuals participating in both parts of the ROZ program to enhance the quality of future program evaluations. | In Progress | Commerce has begun collecting Social Security numbers as part of the application process and reports those to Revenue on a regular basis. This allows Revenue to cross-check participation across the program. | |
| Evaluating the Angel Investor Tax Credit Program (2024) | 1 | The Department of Commerce should develop processes to regularly and systematically review its Angel Investor Tax Credit program data and correct inaccuracies. | In Progress | In April 2025, the KAITC program welcomed a permanent Program Manager to lead a comprehensive review and modernization of the program to ensure full operational efficiency. With data successfully migrated to a new system, quarterly and annual evaluations – beginning with the completed Q2 review – are now underway to assess and improve application processing, tax credit issuance, and overall program management. | 2 | Commerce should continue with its plan to make its monitoring processes more efficient. This may include the new survey process Commerce officials described to us. After implementing its plan, Commerce should evaluate whether it helped them provide all the oversight functions required by state law. | In Progress | The KAITC program now operates on a quarterly internal schedule to support more effective program management, with regular reviews identifying and addressing operational gaps. The new survey process has been fully implemented and will be reviewed after the 2025 tax year, while a standardized site visit schedule is in development, with all visits expected to conclude by December 2025. Additionally, updated dates and deadlines have been established and publicized to ensure improved service and clarity for program users. |
| Evaluating the STAR Bonds Financing Program (2024) | 1 | The Department of Commerce should define its quality-of-life goals for STAR bond districts and measure whether districts meet these goals. | In Progress | Commerce continues to analyze and discuss how best to characterize and define quality of life goals. To some degree these goals are project specific. As we work individual projects these goals are included in the process of vetting and approving bonds. | |
| Evaluating Whether the Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Transparency Database Includes the Required Information and Functionality (2024) | 1 | The Department of Commerce should ensure that the transparency database contains all statutorily required programs and information. If there is any information that cannot be measured or included, the department should include an explanation on the database for why that information does not appear. | Will Not Implement | ||
| Louisburg School District | |||||
| Reviewing the Louisburg School District’s Expenditures (2024) | 1 | The district should take steps to ensure that all expenditures within their internal accounting system are coded correctly at both the function and object level. | Have Implemented | The district has taken steps to ensure all expenditures are coded correctly. These expenditures are currently coded at the function and object level. | 2 | The district should review state law regarding at-risk expenditures and ensure that their spending is in alignment with those laws. | Have Implemented | The district has reviewed state law regarding at-risk expenditures. All at-risk expenditures are in alignment with current at-risk laws. | 3 | The district should review KSDE guidance regarding capital outlay equipment and ensure their spending is in alignment with that guidance. | Have Implemented | The district has reviewed KSDE guidance regarding capital outlay equipment. All capital outlay expenditures fall under the current capital outlay statute. |
| Ford County | |||||
| Reviewing Ford County’s Ballot Reconciliation Process During the 2024 Primary Election (2024) | 1 | The Ford County election officer should ensure that poll workers follow procedures for reconciling the number of ballots cast with poll books check-ins on election day according to statute. | In Progress | The county will always go over in training with the poll workers on what needs to be done. | |
| Reviewing Ford County’s Ballot Reconciliation Process During the 2022 General Election (2024) | 1 | The Ford County election officer should continue working with the Secretary of State’s office to revise and develop forms and policies to improve election security processes. | In Progress | The county will always work with the Secretary of State office to update forms and security. | |