Audit of the Office of the Governor

This is a Massachusetts State Auditor performance audit of the Office of the Governor covering July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2020.

“This report details the audit objectives, scope, methodology, findings, and recommendations for the audit period, July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2020.”

Auditors wanted to know whether the Governor's office was filling required seats on state boards and commissions as state rules require.

“The purpose of our audit was to determine whether GOV had filled all vacant seats on the Commonwealth’s active boards and commissions as prescribed by state laws, regulations, or executive orders.”

Boards and commissions can have trouble doing their work if they do not have enough appointed members.

“When boards and commissions are without a full complement of appointees, they may lack the knowledge and skills to effectively meet their mission and may encounter difficulty securing a quorum to officially conduct business.”

For residents, this matters because these boards and commissions help carry out public work across many state departments and policy areas.

“Governor Baker appoints citizens to more than 700 boards and commissions dealing with virtually every state department and public policy area.”

Auditors found 248 seats where terms had ended and said those seats should have been filled by the Governor's office according to its database.

“As of the end of our audit period, the term had ended for 248 (10.6%) of the 2,341 seats5 on active state boards and commissions; these 248 seats should have been filled by the Office of the Governor (GOV) according to the Intranet Quorum (IQ) database.”

The Auditor recommended better monitoring of appointments, review of new boards for duplication, and better policies for keeping appointment data accurate.

“GOV should develop policies and procedures to ensure that IQ accurately contains all active state boards and commissions and the appointments made to them.”

The finding was not only about open seats; it also raised concerns that the Governor's office could not manage appointments well if its database was incomplete or inaccurate.

“Without ensuring that board and commission appointment information is complete and accurate in its database, GOV cannot effectively manage the filling of vacancies.”

A 'holdover' means a person's official term has ended, but they keep serving until someone is appointed to replace them.

“Holdover status was described to us as a status where the appointment term has ended, but the appointee continues to serve on the board or commission until a replacement is appointed.”