Workshops, Masterclasses, and Events
We offer custom-designed oversight workshops for members of state legislatures and their staff seeking to strengthen their ability to conduct fact-based, bipartisan, high-quality investigations. Check our page below or get in touch for a proposal tailored to your legislature.
We also host regular events, both virtually and in-person, on important state oversight topics. We bring together lawmakers, scholars, policy experts, activists, community organizers, journalists, and attorneys to discuss the conduct of oversight across a wide range of issues.
Download our workshop brochure!
Contact us for more information on our oversight workshops or to discuss a hearing, testimony, or workshop for your state.
SOA Workshops
To achieve its mission of promoting and supporting fact-based, bipartisan, in-depth oversight, the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy offers workshops for state legislatures on how to conduct oversight investigations. The workshops are available in a variety of formats from one-hour introductions to full-day boot camps, and can be virtual or in-person. All sessions seek to combine investigators from the Democratic, Republican, and independent parties as well as both chambers of the legislature to produce a bipartisan or nonpartisan oversight experience.
Workshop contents can include a wide range of topics depending on your legislature’s particular interest, such as how to improve hearing questions, how to build successful investigations, how to handle press and media releases following oversight reports and many more.
Featured Workshop
Asking Better Oversight Hearing Questions
October 7, 2021
Watch our state oversight workshop about how to prepare the most effective questions for your oversight hearing.
Workshop Instructors
Ben Eikey is our Manager of State Training and Communications. Ben has four years of experience working in the Michigan House of Representatives as well as the United States Congress, assisted teaching three university courses, and holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan. While working in the Michigan Legislature and in Congress, Ben enjoyed being part of solving critical public policy issues across a wide range of topics. His work primarily involved state and federal appropriations committee responsibilities including budget analysis and departmental oversight. Further, Ben excelled in encouraging positive legislative impacts in criminal justice, transportation policy, and tax reform.
Ian McKnight is a State Training and Development Manager at the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy. He joined the Levin Center in July 2023 to work with the State Oversight Academy. A good government geek and legislative branch loyalist, Ian helps state legislators, their staff, and the public understand the important role of bipartisan, fact-based oversight in our system of government. A native of West Michigan, Ian earned his BA in political science and American studies from Kalamazoo College in 2019. Before joining the Levin Center, he worked for a member of the Michigan House of Representatives and conducted software implementations and training for state legislatures across the country.
James H. (Jim) Townsend, a former member of the Michigan legislature, was named director of the Levin Center at Wayne Law in November 2019. Previously, Townsend practiced law in the Detroit office of Butzel Long as a member of its Corporate and Real Estate Practice Group.
Prior to joining the firm, he represented the 26th District in the Michigan House of Representatives. He serves on the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s advisory council of the Redevelopment Ready Communities® program.
Before his career in law, Townsend was legislative director for the office of U.S. Representative Nita M. Lowey and worked for U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg. Townsend’s private sector experience includes working as a brand manager at Ford Motor Company, founding and directing the Michigan Suburbs Alliance, and leading economic development at the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Townsend earned his J.D. at Wayne Law, his bachelor’s at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.B.A. and Master of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.
Oversight Workshops
On March 6th, Jim Townsend and Ben Eikey visited the Michigan Capitol to discuss legislative oversight best practices with the Michigan House Oversight democrats! About X legislators participated in the training and interactive exercises on oversight planning and presenting investigative findings.
Instructors:
- Jim Townsend, Director of the Levin Center
- Ben Eikey, Manager, State Training and Development
Participants:
- Approximately 30 legislators and staff
On March 3rd, SOA held a 90-minute workshop with about 40 members and staff from the New York City Council! Jim Townsend and Ian McKnight provided an introduction to legislative oversight and the group participated in an en exercise about improving factual questions to guide oversight.
Instructors:
- Jim Townsend, Director of the Levin Center
- Ian McKnight, Manager, State Training and Development
Participants:
- Approximately 40 legislators and staff
On January 24th, Ian McKnight and Ben Eikey spent three hours with Maine’s Government Oversight Committee discussing best practices in legislative oversight and how to make the most of hearings.
Instructors:
- Ian McKnight, Manager, State Training and Development
- Ben Eikey, Manager, State Training and Development
Participants:
- 12 legislators
On January 16th, Jim Townsend and Ian McKnight joined the Washington, D.C. Council staff for a 4-hour oversight workshop. The workshop included interactive exercises on the techniques of fact-based, bipartisan oversight.
Instructors:
- Jim Townsend, Director of the Levin Center
- Ian McKnight, Manager, State Training and Development
Participants:
- 35 staff members
On January 9th, Jim Townsend and Ben Eikey visited the Oregon State Legislature for a 90-minute presentation on legislative oversight and an interactive planning exercise.
Instructors:
- Jim Townsend, Director of the Levin Center
- Ben Eikey, Manager, State Training and Development
Participants:
- 30 legislators
On December 10 and 11, Ben Eikey and Ian McKnight joined the West Virginia State Legislature for a set of three oversight training workshops. The team highlighted the importance of legislative oversight, which avenues to take when conducting oversight, and touched on the specifics in West Virginia’s oversight landscape.
Instructors:
- Ben Eikey, Manager, State Training and Development
- Ian McKnight, Manager, State Training and Development
Participants:
- 10 legislators and 10 staff members
On October 18, 2024, Jim Townsend and Ben Eikey joined the District of Columbia Council for an oversight training workshop. The four-hour in-person session was provided to 15 members of the Council’s staff and included interactive exercises.
- 15 staff members
Instructors:
- Jim Townsend, Director, Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy
- Ben Eikey, Manager, State Training and Development
On May 30 and 31, 2024, Jim Townsend and Ben Eikey visited the Oregon House of Representatives for a series of oversight workshops:
- Legislative Oversight, Accountability, and Effectiveness Workgroup meeting: 4 Representatives, 2 staff
- State legislature staff oversight workshop: 30 staff in-person, 6 on Zoom
- House Interim Committee on Rules oversight presentation: 9 Representatives
Instructors:
- Jim Townsend, Director, Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy
- Ben Eikey, Manager, State Training and Development
On May 15, Ben Eikey virtually presented to the Texas House Democratic Caucus about juvenile justice oversight. Download the slides here.
Instructors:
- Ben Eikey, Manager, State Training and Development
Participants: 15 legislators
The State Oversight Academy virtually presented to the Missouri House Democratic Caucus. 10 legislators were in attendance and the content focused on the basics of state legislative oversight. Examples from across the country were shared in addition to specific recommendations for Missouri. Feedback was positive and focused on how to use oversight in the criminal justice space, and how to encourage bipartisanship in the oversight pursued by the legislature.
Instructor:
- Ben Eikey, Manager, State Training and Development
Participants: 10 legislators
On January 26, 2024, Jim Townsend and Ben Eikey visited the Utah State Legislature for an oversight workshop. The training focused on legislative audits and oversight. They were joined about about 20 members for hands-on oversight exercises.
Instructors:
- Jim Townsend, Director, Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy
- Ben Eikey, Manager, State Training and Development
Participants: 20 members
On January 17, 2024, Jim Townsend and Ian McKnight visited the Pennsylvania House Government Oversight Committee for an oversight workshop. The training covered all the highlights of a meaningful investigation: planning, conducting hearings, preparing a written product, and following up to make real change. They also participated in practice exercises surrounding a simulated scandal of a software failure at public hospitals.
Instructors:
- Jim Townsend, Director, Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy
- Ian McKnight, Manager, State Training and Development
Participants: 10 members
On January 12, 2024, Jim Townsend and Elise Bean trained 37 staff from committees and member offices of the Washington, D.C. council on the importance and the techniques of fact-based, bipartisan oversight in a 4-hour in-person workshop. They covered topics including setting oversight priorities, designing open-ended factual questions to guide an investigation, overcoming agency resistance to producing information, building factual consensus, managing the media, asking better hearing questions, and effecting change through follow-up.
Instructors:
- Jim Townsend, Director, Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy
- Elise Bean, Director, Levin Center Washington, D.C. Office
Participants: 37 members of the D.C. Council staff
On December 12, 2023, SOA’s Ian McKnight and Ben Eikey joined the Delaware Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee for an oversight workshop. The training featured sessions by Delaware’s oversight partners (including State Auditor Lydia York), followed by a two-hour presentations and interactive exercises on a fictional disaster response scenario.
Instructors:
- Ben Eikey, Manager, State Training and Development
- Ian McKnight, Manager, State Training and Development
Participants: 29 legislators and staff
On March 16th, the Levin Center conducted a workshop on oversight for the North Carolina General Assembly. A bipartisan mix of elected officials and staff came together for an all-day workshop covering the basics of legislative oversight, the four phases of an investigation, developing and keeping an oversight plan, and an interactive exercise involving disaster response.
Instructors:
Jim Townsend – Levin Center Director
Ben Eikey – State Training & Development Manager
Attendees:
20 Participants
Downloads:
On January 18, 2023, Jim Townsend and Elise Bean trained all members of the Washington, D.C. council on the importance and the techniques of fact-based, bipartisan oversight in a 4-hour in-person workshop.
Instructors:
- Jim Townsend, Director, Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy
- Elise Bean, Director, Levin Center Washington, D.C. Office
Participants: 12 members of the D.C. Council
On November 28 and 29, 2022, Elise Bean and Linda Gustitus of the Levin Center’s Washington, D.C. Office trained three members of the Washington, D.C. Council in a hands-on, interactive oversight Boot Camp exercise. Council members learned about creating a hearing plan, the variety of oversight techniques, developing the final report, and planning a successful communication strategy to share important oversight findings.
Instructors:
- Elise Bean, Director, Levin Center Washington, D.C. Office
- Linda Gustitus, Levin Center Senior Advisor
Attendees: 3 D.C. Council Members
Ben Eikey and Elise Bean joined the California State Legislature on February 8, 2022 for a virtual oversight workshop. Organized by State Assemblyman Ken Cooley, the workshop focused on California’s oversight capacity, gave recommendations to strengthen legislative oversight in the state, and provided attendees with a practical exercise to develop a mock investigative plan.
Location: virtual
Participants: 28 members of staff
Instructors: Ben Eikey, Elise Bean
Opening Remarks: Machaela Cavanaugh (Nebraska State Senator), Tom Bergquist (Finance Office), Martha Carter (Performance Audit), Julie Rogers (Ombudsman’s Office)
Instructors: Ben Eikey (Levin Center)
Participants: 30 Legislators
Location: Lincoln, NE
Downloads:
- Levin Center Workshop Slides
- Nebraska Performance Audit Request Form
- Nebraska Fiscal Office Overview
- Nebraska Legislative Oversight Report: Past and Present
- Nebraska Legislative Fiscal Office Assignment Overview
- Nebraska Ombudsman Office Overview
- Nebraska Legislative Audit Performance Committee – Annual Report 2020
Instructors: Ben Eikey and Jim Townsend (Levin Center)
Participants: 25 North Carolina lawmakers and staffers
Location: online using Zoom platform
Downloads:
Remarks and presentations: Elaine Howle (California State Auditor); Gabe Petek (Head of the Legislative Analyst’s Office); Cara Jenkins (Assembly’s Legislative Counsel)
Levin Center Instructors: Ben Eikey and Elise Bean
Participants: 30 California State Lawmakers
Location: online using Zoom platform
Downloads:
Instructors: Elise Bean, Ray Shepherd, Andrew Wright
Workshop participants: 40 state legislative staffers from both parties and a variety of committees
Location: Pennsylvania State Capitol, Harrisburg, PA
Instructors: Elise Bean, Andrew Wright, South Carolina Representative Weston Newton, House Legislative Oversight Committee chair
Workshop participants: 9 committee members and 11 staffers
Location: Pennsylvania State Capitol, Harrisburg, PA
Trainings, Conferences, and Testimonies
Last week, the State Oversight Academy’s Ben Eikey and Ian McKnight participated in a webinar with CSG East on education funding.
On December 10, Margaux Laspeyres and Kyle Bule presented on the importance of legislative oversight to a group of newly-elected Michigan lawmakers at the Legislative Leadership Program sponsored by Michigan State University’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research!
Instructors
- Kyle Bule, Research and Communications Specialist
- Margaux Laspeyres, Program Manager
Participants
- ~ 11 freshman legislators
Jim Townsend and Ben Eikey attended NewDEAL’s 14th Annual Leaders Conference this month and gave a plenary presentation, “Transparency and Accountability that Delivers for Communities.”
Instructor:
- Jim Townsend, Director of the Levin Center
- Ben Eikey, State Training & Development Manager
Attendees: 50+ elected officials
Jim Townsend and Ian McKnight attended the NLPES Professional Development Seminar in New Orleans, LA. Jim presented to a large group of attendees, including legislative and auditing staff, about “Evaluating for Impact: Rebuilding Public Trust.”
Instructor:
- Jim Townsend, Director of the Levin Center
Attendees: 150
Ben Eikey presented to a room of Republican state legislators from across the country as part of the Rainey Center’s LAMP National Summit in Washington, D.C. Thirty state legislators from eleven states came together on a Friday morning for Ben’s session on state legislative oversight and how to prepare an oversight agenda for their upcoming 2025 legislative sessions. The dialogue was strong and covered topics including infrastructure, corrections, and fiscal transparency. Feedback was uniformly positive, including an attendee from North Carolina commenting that Ben’s presentation was by far their favorite of the conference.
Instructor:
- Ben Eikey, State Training & Development Manager
Participants: 30 legislators from 11 states
Ian McKnight and Ben Eikey traveled to our nation’s capital for an interactive session at CSG’s Medicaid Policy Academy. In addition to learning about Medicaid oversight, attendees were presented with a variety of scenarios and worked together to create oversight plans!
Instructors:
- Ben Eikey, State Training & Development Manager
- Ian McKnight, State Training & Development Manager
Participants: Approximately 40
Ian McKnight and Ben Eikey attended the CSG East Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, where they gave a presentation about improving legislative oversight to the fiscal committee.
Instructors:
- Ben Eikey, State Training & Development Manager
- Ian McKnight, State Training & Development Manager
Ben Eikey attended the CSG Midwestconference in Columbus, Ohio, and held a session about criminal justice and public safety oversight. He was joined by Ohio State Sen. Bill DeMora (D-25), Laura van der Lugt (Deputy Program Director of Justice Counts at CSG Justice Center), and Ruchelle Pride (Director of Franklin County, Ohio Board of Commissioners, Justice and Policy Programs) for a discussion about the importance of oversight and the tools for using data to drive decision-making.
Instructor: Ben Eikey, State Training & Development Manager
On July 17, Ian McKnight participated in a webinar hosted by the Popvox Foundation about coordinating casework effectively between state, local, and federal offices and the importance of building relationships. Watch the webinar on Popvox’s website here.
SOA Presenter:
- Ian McKnight, Manager, State Training and Development
On June 18, Ben Eikey virtually testified before the North Dakota Juvenile Justice Committee about performing oversight on this difficult issue. Watch the presentation on the ND Legislature’s website (9:53:44) and download the slides here.
Testifier:
- Ben Eikey, Manager, State Training and Development
Participants: 10 legislators
Ben Eikey joined The Institutes Griffith Foundation for the session, “Examining the Impact of Fraud on the Insurance Ecosystem & the Important Role of Public Policymakers in Anti-Fraud Efforts.”
View this non-advocative, on-demand session exploring: the impact of insurance fraud on the insurance ecosystem; efforts underway to combat fraud; and opportunities for state lawmakers to bolster fraud prevention on the Griffith Foundation’s Youtube page.
Jim Townsend and Ben Eikey virtually presented to the Future Caucus’ Strengthening Democracy Fellows for their monthly meeting on the topic of oversight. You can watch the video below or on the Future Caucus YouTube channel.
Instructors:
- Jim Townsend, Director, Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy
- Ben Eikey, Manager, State Training and Development
Ben Eikey presented at CSG Midwest’s webinar, Medicaid Policy in 2024: A Look at the Year Ahead, and the Ongoing Role of Legislative Oversight, with Robin Rudowitz, director of the Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured. They discussed recent developments in the program and challenges that state legislators will face in the coming year. Ben presented legislators with tools they can use to perform effective oversight of Medicaid.
Watch Recording (Ben’s presentation at 39:19)
CSG West’s Public Safety Committee hosted a discussion on “Enhancing Reforms in Public Safety: Juvenile Justice.” The session examined:
- Reducing juvenile incarceration rates
- Increasing diversion from the juvenile justice system
- Reducing recidivism
- Addressing mental and behavioral health issues
- Increasing data sharing
Ben Eikey from the Levin Center’s State Oversight Academy provided a historic background and legislative oversight perspective on the issue of juvenile justice.
In November, the State Oversight Academy attended and presented at the CSG West Annual Meeting in Los Angeles. Ben Eikey presented in the Legislative Oversight Working Group session titled “Trends in Government Accountability, Transparency, and Oversight” and in the Public Safety Committee session, “Enhancing Reforms in Public Safety: Juvenile Justice and the Opioid Crisis.” The oversight session was a “nuts and bolts” conversation on how to conduct bipartisan, fact-based oversight and was presented alongside former California Assemblymember Ken Cooley. The public safety session was a presentation on juvenile justice and featured the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Policy and Oversight Committee’s Juvenile Justice Equity Dashboard. Presenting in both sessions offered an opportunity for the State Oversight Academy to discuss oversight capacities across the country, as well as within the public safety policy context.
Instructors:
- Ben Eikey, State Training & Development Manager
- Ken Cooley, former California Assemblymember and SOA Advisory Board member
Download Slides:
On September 19, 2023, the State Oversight Academy was invited by the Council of State Government’s Medicaid Policy Academy to lead a two-and-a-half hour in-person exercise for an audience of several dozen state lawmakers and state Medicaid administrators. After a presentation on the basics of oversight and their application to Medicaid issues, small groups were invited to develop their own oversight plan for a Medicaid-related issue of their choosing. After developing their plan with the help of instructors and a worksheet, participants presented their plans to the group. Using oversight tools discussed in the presentation, participants explored topics including Medicaid unwinding, maternal care outcomes, and access to specialists for Medicaid participants.
Instructors:
- Ben Eikey, State Training & Development Manager
- Ian McKnight, State Training & Development Manager
Downloads:
Our Director, Jim Townsend, testified to the Michigan Senate Oversight Committee on September 13, 2023. Jim Townsend outlined the various avenues and oversight tools available to state legislators, how to determine an oversight agenda and plan, and shared the values of fact-finding and bipartisanship that the Levin Center embodies.
On May 18, 2023, Levin Center Director Jim Townsend testified before the Michigan House of Representatives Ethics and Oversight Committee. His presentation highlighted the legislative oversight resources available at the Levin Center and provided expertise on the phases of an investigation and recommended best practices.
In partnership with the Council of State Governments (CSG) West, the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy hosted a virtual legislative exchange focused on oversight of infrastructure investments. This session offered policymakers and legislative staff an opportunity to gain insights from our recent infrastructure oversight symposium and the recommendations made to ensure transparency, accountability, and efficiency of U.S. infrastructure investments.
Location: Virtual
Attendees: 15 lawmakers from CSG West
Presenter: Jim Townsend, Levin Center Director
State Senator Sara Gelser from Oregon, Carmen Simon, and Ben Eikey from the Levin Center gathered in Scottsdale, Arizona for the NCOIL Annual Meeting. Together they lead two 90-minute legislative oversight workshops, detailing the steps in any effective legislative investigation.
Location: Scottsdale, AZ
Participants: 10 lawmakers
Instructors: Ben Eikey, Carmen Simon, Oregon State Senator Sara Gelser
Downloads:
Instructors: Ben Eikey (Levin Center), Jim Townsend (Levin Center), Kim Schofield (Georgia State Representative)
Participants: 45 lawmakers and members of CSG West
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Downloads:
Moderator: Ken Cooley (California State Assemblymember)
Panelists: Ben Eikey (Levin Center), John Sylvia (West Virginia, Director Performance Evaluation & Research Division), Ed McBroom (Michigan State Senator)
Participants: 70 members of NCOIL
Location: Boston, MA
View Recording (start at 2:40 hours)
The Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy was invited to speak at the Council of State Government’s National Conference 2020. The session entitled “Strengthening the Role of Legislative Oversight” was hosted by the CSG West Oversight Working Group. The Levin Center presentation was followed by a panel discussion hearing from three different lawmakers in different states. The session was moderated by Assemblyman Ken Cooley (D-CA).
Levin Center presentation:
- Jim Townsend, Levin Center Director
- Elise Bean, Levin Center Washington Office Director
- Ben Eikey, State Training and Communications Manager
Panel discussion:
- Assemblymember Dan Quart, New York State Assembly, Chair, Commission on Administrative Regulations Review
- Senator Sarah Elfreth, Maryland State Senate, Chair, Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive & Legislative Review
- Senator Dan Johnson, Idaho State Senate
Download the Levin Center presentation (pdf)
Download the session’s agenda (pdf)
View the recording on the CSG website (no-cost registration required to view the recording)
August 8, 2016
Instructors: Elise Bean, Justin Rood
Workshop participants: 40 staffers from various state legislatures
Location: NCSL Legislative Summit, Chicago, IL
Masterclasses
Learn the nuts and bolts of oversight, including legal authorities, types of oversight, avenues of oversight, where to find oversight topics, how to make an oversight plan, and more!
Watch on YouTube.
Download the Legislative Oversight Plan Worksheet
Past Events
- John (JB) McCuskey, West Virginia State Auditor
- Representative Nadine K. Nakamura, Hawaii House Majority Leader
- Joe Coletti, North Carolina House Majority Oversight Staff Director
- Colin Foard, The Pew Charitable Trusts Senior Manager (Managing Fiscals Risks Program)
- Marjorie Sarbaugh-Thompson, Professor of Political Science at Wayne State University and the State Oversight Academy’s Academic Director
- Sara Sadhwani, Assistant Professor of Politics at Pomona College and member of the Citizens Redistricting Commission for the State of California
- Christian Grose, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at University of Southern California and Academic Director of USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy.
On June 22, 2023, the Levin Center’s State Oversight Academy held an interactive masterclass for state legislators and their legislative staff entitled “Oversight of Prison Operations”. The class reviewed the multiple oversight avenues available to state lawmakers and applied these learnings in the interactive exercise. The class was joined by external experts to share their knowledge and experience in overseeing corrections operations:
- Kade Minchey, Utah Legislative Auditor General
- Keith Barber, Michigan Legislative Corrections Ombudsman
- Amarik K. Singh, California Inspector General
What is the relationship between auditors and legislators, and how do each contribute to effective oversight? Watch the State Oversight Academy’s conversation with state auditors on how to maintain a relationship with the legislature while preserving political boundaries. The panel discusses how auditing contributes to the overall state oversight ecosystem – whether the auditor finds a problem during a routine investigation, or the committee requests an audit following a scandal, they need each other to bring positive, lasting change in their states.
Panelists
- Kathy Patterson, Auditor @District of Columbia
- Kade Minchey, Auditor General @Office of Utah Legislative Auditor General
- John Geragosian, State Auditor @Connecticut
- John Sylvia, Director, Performance Evaluation & Research Division @West Virginia Office of the Legislative Auditor
Host:
Ben Eikey – State Training & Development Manager, Levin Center
- Connecticut audit report: Department of Social Services and Veyo Non-Emergency Medical Transportation
- Follow-up: Non-Emergency Medical Transportation
- Utah audit report: A Performance Audit of Healthcare in State Prisons
- D.C. audit report: District’s 911 System: Reforms Needed to Meet Safety Needs
- West Virginia audit report: Review of the State’s Laboratory Facilities – State Laboratory Testing Facilities’ Needs and Issues Are at Critical Point
- Amelia Knisely – Freelance Journalist, West Virginia
- Camryn Sanchez – Arizona Capitol Times
- Jonathan Oosting – Bridge Michigan
- Adam Zelizer – Assistant Professor of Political Science, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago
- Ben Eikey – State Training & Development Manager
- State Senator Kyra Hoffner (D-Delaware)
- State Senator Ed McBroom (R-Michigan)
On January 23, 2023, Ben Eikey and Jim Townsend trained state legislators from across the country and political spectrum on how to build an oversight agenda for the upcoming legislative term. Following the presentation, attendees joined breakout rooms to create their own oversight agendas.
Instructors:
- Jim Townsend, Director, Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy
- Ben Eikey, State Training and Communications Manager, Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy
Participants: 22 state legislators
Downloads:
Properly administered election audits are one of the most important tools states can use to improve voter confidence and election security. In 2020, however, state legislatures in multiple states used audits for the opposite goal of undermining the public’s faith in elections and the electoral results themselves. Watch our panel discussion as representatives from the Brennan Center for Justice and the R Street Institute discuss the audits that followed the last election cycle and explore options to strengthen oversight of our elections going forward. This virtual panel discussion is hosted by Wayne Law’s Voting Rights and Election Law Society and the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy.
Panelists:
- Matt Germer, Resident Elections Fellow, Governance Program, R Street Institute.
- Derek Tisler, Counsel, Democracy Program, Brennan Center for Justice.
Download the Election Audit Report referenced in the panel discussion
“Oversight, Infrastructure, and Federalism: Ensuring Transparency, Accountability, and Effectiveness of U.S. Infrastructure Investments”
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 is poised to send billions of taxpayer dollars from the nation’s capital through the states to local communities to improve our roads, bridges, dams, broadband networks, electric vehicle charging stations, mass transit systems, and more. To ensure the success of these historic infrastructure investments, action must be taken to prevent waste, fraud and abuse, and ensure the law lives up to its promise. On March 25, 2022, the Levin Center and Wayne State University Law Review held a one-day online symposium focused on meeting our infrastructure investment challenges and opportunities.
(Visit our symposium webpage for full bios of moderators and panelists and additional resources on infrastructure oversight.)
Welcoming Comments: U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI)
Panel 1:Establishing Mechanisms for Oversight of Infrastructure
Moderator: Beth Osborne – Director, Transportation for America
- Shruti Shah – President & CEO, Coalition for Integrity
- Lawrence (Larry) Goldenhersh – President, Center for Sustainable Energy
- Alexander (Alex) Beckmann – Senior Policy Advisor on Transportation and Infrastructure Issues, Congressman Jesús “Chuy” García (D-IL)
Panel 2: Exercising Oversight of Infrastructure Performance
Moderator: Portia Bamiduro – Technical Adviser to Senior Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs, Amazon
- Elizabeth (Biza) Repko – Director for Physical Infrastructure, GAO
- Andrew (Andy) Doctoroff – Michigan Lead, Gordie Howe International Bridge Project & Adjunct Professor, University of Michigan Law School
- Joseph (Joe) Colaianne – General Counsel, Four Lakes Task Force
- John Sylvia – Director Performance Evaluation & Research Division, West Virginia State Legislature
Recommendations:
Capacity Building
- Build a culture of infrastructure oversight at the federal, state and local levels.
- Establish a committee of inspectors general, either modeled after the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) or by expanding the PRAC mandate, to coordinate federal infrastructure oversight, data, and analysis.
- Invest more in oversight capacity in the executive and legislative branches, at the federal and state levels, to enable more rigorous and timely investigations and reports.
- Build into federal and state laws, regulations, and practices up-front risk assessments, continuous auditing, and fraud detection.
Public Involvement
- Build a public website that tracks spending under the IIJA and enables public and private sector analysis of government and contractor spending and performance.
- Expand up-front community involvement in infrastructure policy and projects, particularly in establishing project needs, scope, and design.
- Educate national, state, and local media about the IIJA to assist in media oversight.
Design & Practice
- Encourage states to be more specific about their infrastructure goals in planning documents and performance metric design. Encourage reviews of past state projections for congestion reduction, reliability, safety improvements, and repair to identify challenges and improve future projections.
- Monitor and critique performance of infrastructure programs, including formula-based programs, using agreed upon goals and criteria, including repair and safety.
- Enlist project owners, auditors, agencies, prime contractors, and lawmakers in executing different aspects of oversight of specific infrastructure projects.
Data & Measurement
- Require more timely availability of data on infrastructure condition, safety, and performance management results. Measure the movement of people and the performance of non-car transportation systems.
- For electric vehicle charging stations, create a national data warehouse, direct grantees and contractors to supply data on charger use, reliability, and performance, and ensure the data is collected and analyzed.
- Leverage technology and best practices from industry regarding useful performance criteria and methods for gathering infrastructure performance data.
Contracting
- Provide training for state and local government personnel on project planning and cost estimation to enable effective reviews of contractor bids and make informed selections.
- Build oversight elements into infrastructure contracts requiring contractors to report performance data on a timely basis and cooperate with agency and auditor oversight.
- Build oversight costs into each contract.
- Provide state contracting officer and supervisor training on the collection and analysis of contract performance data (quality metrics, pay protocols tied to milestones, safety performance) and how to deal with subpar performance.
- Encourage or require cost estimates to be updated every 3 years.
Links and materials shared during symposium:
- Coalition for Integrity’s Oversight of Infrastructure Report
- Federal Highway Association – State Performance Dashboard
- Washington Post article from March 17, 2022: ‘Under federal rules, ‘significant progress’ on infrastructure can mean more road deaths and decrepit bridges’.
- Slides used by Biza Repko
- Slides used by Larry Goldenhersh
Watch Panel 1
Watch Panel 2
- Ben Eikey – State Training and Communications Manager, Levin Center
- Rehana Mohammed, Associate Director for Transparency, PRAC
- Lisa Reijula, Associate Director for Communications and Outreach, PRAC
- Levin Center 50 state study on legislative oversight: https://levin-center.org/state-lawmakers/oversight-in-the-50-states/
- Levin Center resources for State Lawmakers: https://levin-center.org/state-lawmakers/
- Levin Center resources for Congressional Lawmakers: https://levin-center.org/congressional-lawmakers/
- Levin Center blog on pandemic spending oversight: https://levin-center.org/2022/03/11/read-our-new-blog-post-and-join-the-webinar/
- PRAC slides: https://www.levin-center.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/PRAC-Presentation_Levin-15MARCH2022.pptx
- PRAC resources: https://www.pandemicoversight.gov/oversight
- PRAC resources: https://www.pandemicoversight.gov/oversight/reports?updated=&f%5B0%5D=report_type_taxonomy%3A123
Emergencies require a rapid government response, often with little time to screen vendors or review contracts. This sometimes leads to overpriced or mismanaged state contracts. How can state legislatures fulfill their oversight duties to scrutinize state contracts and protect taxpayers in an emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic? Listen to state legislators from across the country discussing legislative oversight of contracts signed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The panel heard from three leading elected officials across the country, including
- State Senator Dan Johnson from Idaho,
- State Assemblymember David Chiu from California, and
- State Senator Machaela Cavanaugh from Nebraska.
This panel discussion was recorded on May 4, 2021 sponsored by the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy. It follows the Levin Center’s recent case study report on oversight of emergency contracts in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
On April 9th, 2021 the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy and the Wayne State University Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice jointly hosed a virtual panel discussion entitled “Corrections and Re-Entry: Legislative and Community Efforts for a Successful Transition after Prison“. The panel addressed questions of re-entry from prison to society, featuring legislative, academic, and community perspectives. How can a prisoner’s re-entry to the community better serve the interests and needs of both? be done successfully? What factors hinder or foster successful re-entry? What oversight efforts do state legislatures and agencies need to engage in to ensure re-entry programs fulfill their promises?
The panel heard from
- Michigan’s Legislative Corrections Ombudsman Keith Barber,
- Former Representative Joe Haveman from Hope Network, and
- Darryl Woods Sr., activist and returning citizen.
Symposium Overview
On Friday, March 22, 2019, the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy, together with The Journal of Law in Society, held a symposium entitled “Gerrymandering: The Power of Boundaries” with to foster civil discourse on this matter of rapidly evolving public policy. Leading scholars from around the U.S. joined experts from Wayne State University to discuss partisan gerrymandering and race-based redistricting in a full-day event. Michigan’s newly elected Secretary of State and former Wayne Law Dean Jocelyn Benson provided keynote remarks.
Agenda
8:45 a.m. Opening remarks
- Former U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, chair, Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy; distinguished legislator in residence, Wayne Law
- Emad Hamadeh, editor-in-chief, The Journal of Law in Society
9:00 a.m. Keynote speaker
- Jocelyn Benson, Secretary of State of Michigan
9:45 a.m. Gerrymandering: Past, Present, and Future
- Jowei Chen, associate professor and faculty associate at the Center for Political Studies, University of Michigan
- James Lancaster, chief counsel, Voters Not Politicians
- Eric Lupher, president, Citizens Research Council of Michigan
- Moderator: Justin Long, associate professor, Wayne Law
11:15 a.m. Race-Based Redistricting
- Guy-Uriel Charles, Edward and Ellen Schwarzman professor of law and director, Duke Law Center on Law, Race, and Politics, Duke University School of Law
- Aleks Kajstura, attorney and legal director, Prison Policy Initiative
- G. Michael Parsons, assistant professor, New York University School of Law
- Moderator: Rhonda Haidar, symposium editor, Journal of Law in Society
1:30 p.m. Political Gerrymandering and the U.S. Constitution
- Edward B. “Ned” Foley, Charles W. Ebersold and Florence Whitcomb Ebersold chair in constitutional law and director of Election Law @ Moritz, Moritz College of Law at Ohio State
- Nicholas Stephanopoulos, professor and Herbert and Marjorie Fried research scholar, University of Chicago Law School
- Daniel P. Tokaji, Charles W. Ebersold and Florence Whitcomb Ebersold professor of constitutional law, Moritz College of Law at Ohio State
- Steven Winter, Walter S. Gibbs distinguished professor of constitutional law, Wayne Law
- Moderator: Jonathan Weinberg, associate dean for research and faculty development, Wayne Law
3:00 p.m. Closing Remarks
- Rhonda Haidar, symposium editor, The Journal of Law in Society
Other SOA Content
- Oversight Overview is a video series that explores how state legislatures across the nation are performing oversight of a particular issue, such as Medicare, corrections, and child welfare.
FAST (Federal and State Tutorials) Classes are short podcasts with experts that provide brief introductions to new oversight tools, concepts, or topics. This quick listen is full of tips to get your oversight investigation off the ground! Available in the podcast feed of the Levin Center’s Oversight Matters on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
State Oversight Matters, the State Oversight Academy’s blog, offers expert advice on conducting oversight investigations in your state legislature, oversight news from statehouses across the country, and other important topics in the field.
