WINTER PARK, Fla. \u2013 Florida CFO Blaise Ingoglia is slated to reveal a \u201clegislative proposal\u201d during a news conference in Winter Park on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
In a release, Ingoglia\u2019s office announced that the conference will be held at 10:30 a.m.<\/p>\n
However, no details have been revealed at this time about the proposal Ingoglia intends to unveil.<\/p>\n
That said, Ingoglia \u2014 who was picked to lead the state\u2019s FAFO initiative<\/a> \u2014 announced on Wednesday his \u201clegislative priority<\/a>\u201d to improve local government transparency, calling for lawmakers to do the following:<\/p>\n Codify the Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight (FAFO) in state law as a permanent, long-term initiative<\/p>\n Require both state and local government employees to complete FAFO training on how to report waste, fraud and abuse<\/p>\n Require each local government to submit a Financial Efficiency Report annually<\/p>\n Grant government employees, contractors, subcontractors and taxpayers whisteblower protection if they contact FAFO\u2019s office to report waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars<\/p>\n Allow the Department of Financial Services to pursue financial penalties from local governments if they don\u2019t respond to inquiries promptly, including withholding state funds<\/p>\n Obligate local governments to upload all government contracts into the state\u2019s FACTS system or something similar that is searchable and indexed<\/p>\n Codify the ability of Florida\u2019s CFO to recommend the removal of any elected official who is found to have committed financial abuse, malfeasance or misfeasance<\/p>\n Require the DFS to audit local governments if they propose to raise taxes via referendum<\/p>\n The move comes as Ingoglia and FAFO have gone on an auditing spree across the state to uncover wasteful spending by local governments, with the aim of proving the need for property tax cuts<\/a>.<\/p>\n