The state Department of Health of Human Service is required to create a watchdog agency to look at its operations, but so far, crickets from the agency. And lawmakers seem to have had enough, as Dan Way reports for Carolina Journal. Take, for example, these comments from Sen. Ralph Hise and others.
“Once again we get another report that for all practical purposes the department has done nothing,” he said. “It looks to me as if there’s just certain evaluations the department doesn’t want done.”
OPERA’s duties include evaluating DHHS programs, listing all programs and publishing the list on a department website; developing an inventory of all contracts, department data, and records; and conducting announced and unannounced inspections of all DHHS facilities — including interviews with employees.
“A statute is not a suggestion,” said committee co-chairman Rep. Josh Dobson, R-McDowell.
“Nobody wants to be accountable, and numbers and data hold you accountable,” said Sen. Tommy Tucker, R-Union.
Read more about the failure to follow the requirement here.
