Washington state governments

Auditors find nearly $900,000 misappropriation at Office of Administrative Hearings

A Washington state employee misappropriated nearly $900,000 through fraudulent credit card purchases, the Office of the Washington State Auditor found in a fraud report released today. It is the largest internal misappropriation in a state agency in at least the last 15 years.

The report identifies $878,115 in misappropriations between 2019 and 2023 at the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH).

Better data, documentation needed to ensure consistency in public land lease rates for docks, shellfish farming and more

Washington shellfish are enjoyed the world over; marinas connect people with the state’s beautiful stretches of water. Both can rely on publicly owned land under the waves, through aquatic land leases. 

A performance audit published today reviewed the processes for determining the lease rates for aquatic lands, and how those processes contribute to fairness for leaseholders and the state through consistency. 

Preserving drinkable water supplies requires updating state’s water efficiency efforts, performance audit finds

With limited supplies in greater demand, Washington needs to better understand current water system data to reduce the loss of drinkable water, according to a new performance audit by the Office of the Washington State Auditor.

The Department of Health is tasked with increasing the efficiency of the state’s 2,065 local municipal water systems through both customer-focused conservation efforts and minimizing the loss of water as it travels through the systems.