Oregon’s beleaguered Department of Transportation, education funding for local school districts, the Oregon State Capitol’s seismic rehabilitation project and parole for youth involved in the juvenile justice system are among the state agencies and programs slated for audits in the next year. Secretary of State Tobias Read on Thursday announced his audit plan for the upcoming year, charting a course forward for how his office plans to look under the hood of several state initiatives since his election in 2024. His office said that the agency had previously failed to adequately document the various concerns it assessed to determine which audits it would conduct — an issue that came to a head when former Secretary of State Shemia Fagan resigned in disgrace in 2023 over revelations that she had accepted a $10,000-per-month side gig with a marijuana company involved in an audit the office led.  A new seven-page plan says the agency weighed several factors in determining an initial list of state agencies it would audit, considering issues such as inconsistent spending, increases in overtime, long-term position vacancies and vulnerability to settlements or claims of liability. The next set of factors, such as health and human safety, impact on natural resources and the economy, and whether the agency had strong existing internal regulations, helped the Secretary of State’s Office decide which programs in each of the agencies to focus on. Read told the Capital Chronicle that he saw the new approach as a way “to keep politics out and data in.” “Everybody’s got something that they’re concerned about. That’s totally understandable,” he said. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the ability to follow up on every one of those, so we’re trying to be really clear and say ‘These are the things we’re using’ to decide: Where are we spending money? Where are we not getting results?” The agency will begin audits in July, when the upcoming fiscal year begins, Read said, with a plan to complete them June 30, 2027. His plan notes that areas of focus can change “as determined by the auditor based on engagement risk assessment results.”  Here’s a list of agencies set to receive audits— a more granular view of each program being audited is available online: Oregon Youth Authority Oregon Department of Corrections Oregon Department of State Police Oregon Health Authority  Legislative Administration Oregon Department of Human Services  Oregon Liquor Control and Cannabis Commission  Oregon Department of Transportation  Oregon Department of Education  Some of the agencies on Read’s list have been embroiled in scandals over the past few years. The liquor and cannabis commission, for instance, has faced multiple ethics investigations into its leadership over concerns that members were securing expensive, rare bottles of liquor for themselves while skirting the proper channels. The new Thursday plan lists its area of focus as the commission’s distilled spirits program, which helps coordinate movement of strongly-fermented alcohol from distilleries to the state’s distribution center and monitors sales in Oregon. The Oregon Youth Authority, meanwhile, has also for years faced costly lawsuits alleging abuse against juveniles in detention. The Secretary of State’s Office plans to review the youth authority’s parole and probation services, which serve youth who have either exited a correctional facility or who are on court-ordered agreements to remain outside of a facility. Two of the audits announced by Read are also mandated by state law.  Oregonians approved Measure 98 in 2016, creating the state’s High School Graduation and College and Career Readiness Fund with the goal of channeling funding to boost graduation rates and access to college-level courses and technical programs. That funding came with a required financial and program audit by December 2020 and every two years afterward. Another audit looking into the education department will analyze funding for local school districts. Perhaps the most politically contentious agency on Read’s list is the Oregon Department of Transportation, which again faces the potential of hundreds of layoffs after Republican lawmakers and an anti-tax operative successfully referred to the ballot tax and fee increases Democrats passed last year.  The department has historically struggled to maintain revenue streams as more Oregonians turn to electric vehicles and pay less of the state’s gas tax, and external reviews of the agency have indicated problems with accounting, staff turnover and time management. Oregon lawmakers included a provision mandating the audit when they passed a slimmed-down transportation funding package in the fall’s special legislative session.  Although several of the vehicular tax and fee increases passed in that broader package are set to be reconsidered in a forthcoming ballot referendum, Read said that the mandatory audit planned for the state’s highway fund and capital projects was not affected by the recent ballot campaign. The Secretary of State’s Office recently cleared the way for lawmakers to pass legislation in the upcoming session that moves the referendum to the May primary ballot, should they include an emergency clause and Gov. Tina Kotek sign the bill into law by Feb. 25. “We know that we need a transportation system that works to move people and things where they need to go,” Read said. “And I think it’s clear that Oregonians want to see more oversight and more effectiveness there, so that’s why it’s there.” He also pointed out that education has a disproportionate impact on the state budget and “what our future as a state is going to look like.” The same logic goes for young people under the care of the Oregon Youth Authority, he said.  “If we don’t get it right, they’re really going to suffer. Those are entire lives that are at risk,” he said. “There’s nothing in here that I think is not meritorious.” Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Shumway for questions: [email protected]. 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