House Oversight Committee Chair Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay Township) today issued the following statement in response to comments from Secretary of State Jocelyn Beson’s office indicating Benson will ignore an IT oversight requirement within the signed state budget. Per the signed budget, responsibility for procurement, development and maintenance of IT services and products will rest with the Department of Technology, Management and Budget. As part of the budget process, DeBoyer and the House Oversight Committee examined problems with features like the state’s campaign finance disclosure system and contracted IT providers during a hearing with Secretary Benson earlier this year:

“Despite a signed budget that was agreed on by the governor and representatives of the people on both sides of the aisle in the Legislature, Secretary Benson continues to sidestep her responsibilities that are plainly laid out as it pertains to this issue. This is not an issue of semantics. It’s the law.

“The signed budget commits to delivering value for tax dollars. We have seen a pattern of taxpayer-funded services at the Secretary of State, including in IT, not working as intended. We have seen these services squander tax dollars and have a variety of shortcomings. That is why we spoke to Secretary Benson this summer and why we made this change.

“I am calling on Secretary Benson to drop the political games and stop overstepping her authority so the state can clean up a mess her office helped create.”