REPORT HIGHLIGHTS MANAGEMENT AUDIT OF BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS PERFORMANCE AUDIT Release Date: June 4, 2024 State of Illinois, Office of the Auditor General FRANK J. MAUTINO, AUDITOR GENERAL To obtain a copy of the Report contact: Office of the Auditor General, 400 West Monroe, Suite 306, Springfield, IL 62704-9849 (217) 782-6046 or TTY (888) 261-2887 This Report Digest and Full Report are also available on the worldwide web at www.auditor.illinois.gov REPORT HIGHLIGHTS Background: On April 4, 2022, the House of Representatives adopted House Resolution Number 677. This resolution required that the Auditor General conduct a management audit of the State’s boards and commissions. The resolution contains five determinations (see Appendix A). The Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments maintains a website, which contains a list of the boards and commissions to which the Governor appoints one or more members. As referenced by the resolution, auditors used the “information compiled by the Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments” as the authoritative list of boards and commissions for the audit. Key Findings: • A total of 339 boards and commissions were identified, and we compiled information from those boards and commissions as part of this audit. Initially, a total of 366 boards and commissions were surveyed; however, 27 were eliminated from analysis for reasons such as being a duplicate board or not having any governor appointments. Volume I of the report summarizes information compiled from our surveys of boards and commissions and contains four recommendations to address issues identified by our analysis of that information. Volume II of this report contains detailed information compiled for each board or commission. • The website maintained by the Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments for the boards and commissions was not accurate and contained outdated information. Based on our review, five boards and commissions were not listed on the website that should have been listed, and 12 boards and commissions were included on the website that should not have been included. • During the audit period of Fiscal Years 2021 and 2022, there were 101 boards and commissions that were identified as being inactive. There were seven primary reasons the boards and commissions were inactive with the most common reason being boards or commissions that did not have enough members to conduct business. If inactive boards and commissions no longer serve a purpose, they should be abolished. • Specifically regarding the 339 boards and commissions: — 217 (64%) had one or more board member vacancies, and 196 (58%) reported having at least one gubernatorial appointment vacancy as of June 30, 2022. — As of June 30, 2022, there were 1,313 total vacancies, and of those vacancies, 839 were to be appointed by the Governor. — 91 (27%) reported having at least one member serving on an expired term as of June 30, 2022. — 206 (61%) respondents reported having some type of compensation. During Fiscal Years 2021 and 2022, the boards and commissions reported approximately $3.35 million in total compensation expenditures. This included approximately $1.60 million in Fiscal Year 2021 and approximately $1.75 million in Fiscal Year 2022. — 202 (60%) boards and commissions reported having a meeting requirement. For these 202, 57 (28%) did not hold the required number of meetings. — 229 (68%) boards and commissions reported having a required work product. To test if the work products were completed as required and in a timely manner, the work products were reviewed for a sample of 55 boards and commissions. Auditors found that 11 of 55 (20%) sampled boards and commissions did not complete all of their required work products. Additionally, 14 of 55 (25%) did not complete all of the required work products in a timely manner. Key Recommendations: The audit report contains four recommendations directed to the Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments, including: • The Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments should ensure that all boards and commissions with governor appointments are included on the appointments list and website as required by the Gubernatorial Boards and Commissions Act (15 ILCS 50). Boards and commissions that should not be included, such as those that do not require governor appointments or that were repealed, should be excluded from the list and website. • The Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments should ensure that boards and commissions that have completed their work and/or have been repealed are removed from the Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments’ list and website. Additionally, in consultation with relevant state agencies, the Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments should review all inactive boards and commissions and make recommendations to: 1) the Governor regarding any boards and commissions created by executive order that are no longer needed and could be abolished; and 2) the General Assembly regarding any boards and commissions that could have their statutory authority repealed. • The Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments should ensure that members are appointed to boards and commissions for which the Governor has appointment authority, so the boards and commissions can fulfill their defined responsibilities. Therefore, the Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments should: 1) fill vacancies in a timely manner by appointing members to boards and commissions; and 2) re-appoint members to boards and commissions or make new appointments in a timely manner, so members are not serving on expired terms. • The Governor’s Office of Executive Appointments should work with other units of the Governor’s Office to improve the process for the submission of required work products by: 1) establishing procedures for the tracking, receiving, and maintenance of work products; and 2) publicizing the central email address for submitting work products. This performance audit was conducted by the staff of the Office of the Auditor General. The Governor’s Office agreed with the recommendations.