In the States, COVID Spending Heads Off to the (Robo-Dog) Races
Forty all-terrain vehicles, five utility terrain vehicles, and 18 utility trailers: $626,000.
Using public funds earmarked for coronavirus relief to buy these items: priceless.
That’s just a fraction of supposedly COVID-related spending by a single police department, in Honolulu, Hawaii. But it hints at what authorities will find as they begin to comb through the receipts from the emergency spending binge of public offices across the country during the pandemic.
In March 2020, Congress passed the roughly $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act.
Government watchdogs, critics and the media have so far focused on federal loans to businesses and unemployment scams, finding hundreds of millions of squandered dollars. Less scrutinized is how state and local offices themselves deployed the money. Also tapped were the emergency funds of some states, again opening the door to misspendin
SECURITY BREACH
Leonine Public Affairs On Monday the Department of Labor (VDOL) announced a mailing error that resulted in a major data breach. VDOL estimates that the personally identifiable information of somewhere between 25,000 and 58,000 Vermonters was compromised when 1099 forms were mailed to incorrect addresses. The 1099 forms included names, addresses and Social Security numbers.
The forms were sent out to unemployment insurance recipients at the beginning of the month. VDOL had printed 180,000 forms and was able to stop the majority from being mailed once the error was discovered.
The response to the breach came swiftly and from across state government. Governor Phil Scott announced on Wednesday that he had dispatched two rapid response teams to VDOL to support and expedite the response to the breach.
Dispatches senior officials to address immediate needs; requests performance audit from State Auditor; appoints new deputy commissioner Montpelier, Vt. - Governor Phil Scott today took additional actions to address and correct the tax form errors announced by the Vermont Department of Labor (VDOL) on Monday. Specifically, the Governor has dispatched two senior-level tactical response teams to VDOL to expedite the response to the 1099-G tax form errors; asked State Auditor Doug Hoffer to conduct a performance audit to identify the root cause of the error and provide recommendations for long-term quality control improvements; and he has appointed a new deputy commissioner to help lead the department.
Dispatches senior officials to address immediate needs; requests performance audit from State Auditor; appoints new deputy commissioner
Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott on Wednesday took additional actions to address and correct the tax form errors announced by the Vermont Department of Labor on Monday.
Specifically, the governor has dispatched two senior-level tactical response teams to VDOL to expedite the response to the 1099-G tax form errors; asked State Auditor Doug Hoffer to conduct a performance audit to identify the root cause of the error and provide recommendations for long-term quality control improvements; and he has appointed a new deputy commissioner to help lead the department.