Semiannual Report: July 2021 – December 2021
Report 22-1 | January 2022
As required by s. 13.94 (1) (br), Wis. Stats., the Legislative Audit Bureau operates a toll-free hotline (1-877-FRAUD-17) that allows the public and individuals within state government to confidentially report alleged fraud, waste, and mismanagement. Callers may remain anonymous, and the Bureau is statutorily required to protect their identities even when other information is made public.
We highlight the activity of the Bureau’s Fraud, Waste, and Mismanagement Hotline for the period from July 1, 2021, through December 31, 2021, including the 19 state-related reports we received. We also highlight findings related to selected reports that we have resolved since the publication of our last semiannual report (report 21-11).
We note that 19 of the 37 hotline reports (51.4 percent) were state-related. The majority of such reports pertained to concerns about alleged agency mismanagement.
As of December 31, 2021, we had resolved 7 of the 19 state-related reports to the hotline. As of January 1, 2022, 8 of the 19 state-related hotline reports remained under review.
We highlight selected reports that we resolved since the publication of our last semiannual report in July 2021 (report 21-11), including:
- the average number of days the Department of Workforce Development (DWD) took to resolve Unemployment Insurance (UI) program appeals;
- DWD’s monitoring and use of predictive analytics for the UI program; and
- unreconciled variances in selected Department of Transportation appropriations.
