Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor
Summary
Minnesota's own watchdog on state government runs on $12.86 million in fiscal year 2027 and about 57 auditors and evaluators -- roughly $2.21 per resident -- work that in 2024 caught a state lottery letting retailers keep selling tickets 13 to 71 days after their contracts expired.
What is this organization?
What does it do?
Reporting to the Legislature in January 2025⧉, OLA's divisions had completed nine performance audits, five program evaluations, and two special reviews, plus the financial-statement audits of the State of Minnesota and three public pension systems (MSRS, PERA, TRA) that state law requires. A 2024 performance audit of the Minnesota State Lottery⧉ shows the texture of that work: OLA found 8 of 40 sampled retailers kept selling tickets 13 to 71 days after their contracts expired, and that the Lottery had stopped verifying retailers' criminal backgrounds since early 2023.
What does it cost to run — money and people?
Minnesota's enacted 2026-27 budget puts $12,365,000 in fiscal year 2026 and $12,857,000 in fiscal year 2027⧉ toward OLA, a specific line inside the Legislature's own appropriation. OLA's own organizational page⧉ counts about 57 professional staff: roughly 36 financial auditors, 16 program evaluators, and 5 special-review staff -- not counting the Legislative Auditor, deputies, and support roles. Against the Census Bureau's 5,830,405 Minnesota residents⧉ as of July 2025, that FY2027 appropriation is about $2.21 per resident.
View data as table
| Financial Audit Division | 36 | mostly CPAs |
|---|---|---|
| Program Evaluation Division | 16 | advanced-degree evaluators |
| Special Reviews Division | 5 | allegations & investigations |
Why is it good for society?
OLA exists because Minnesota decided in 1973 that an executive branch auditing itself could not produce a credible check on state spending. Its independence is structural: OLA controls its own reports, and has access to all documents or data regardless of classification⧉, including records marked not public. The Lottery audit shows that mechanism working -- an expired-contract loophole and an unchecked criminal-history requirement are the kind of control failure that persists absent an office required to look for it, and surfaces once one does.
- OLA's FY2027 appropriation ($12.857M) works out to about $2.21 per Minnesota resident -- roughly what it costs each Minnesotan, per year, to keep an independent check on how the state spends money.
- OLA's 2024 audit of the Minnesota State Lottery found 8 of 40 sampled retailers kept selling tickets 13 to 71 days after their contracts expired, and that the Lottery had stopped verifying retailers' criminal backgrounds since early 2023 -- the kind of gap OLA's mandate exists to catch.
Your handles.* Report suspected misuse of public money or other public resources through OLA's reporting process or by emailing ola.complaints@state.mn.us. Suggest a topic for a future program evaluation through OLA's topic-selection process -- the Legislative Audit Commission takes public suggestions every year. General questions: legislative.auditor@state.mn.us or 651-296-4708.
Sources(7) ▾
- Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor, History of the OLA — OLA's own official history page -- the source for the office's 1973 creation, the Loaned Executive Action Program (LEAP) recommendation that produced it, and the Public Examiner system it replaced. Undated (evergreen office page); accessed 2026-07-16. auditor.leg.state.mn.us · original document
- Office of the Revisor of Statutes, State of Minnesota, Minnesota Statutes, Section 3.971 (Legislative Auditor) (2026) — The current official codification of OLA's enabling statute -- subdivision 1 sets the Legislative Auditor's six-year term and appointment by the Legislative Audit Commission; subdivision 2 requires the office to establish its three divisions. Reflects amendments through the 2026 Regular Session (a subd. 3b addition is noted as pending from Chapter 92). revisor.mn.gov · original document
- Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor, Organization — OLA's own organizational page, giving approximate staff counts for each of its three divisions -- the source for this entry's people/headcount KPI. Undated (evergreen office page); accessed 2026-07-16. These figures do not include the Legislative Auditor, deputy auditors, legal counsel, or administrative/support staff, so total OLA headcount runs somewhat higher than the division sum used here. auditor.leg.state.mn.us · original document
- Office of the Legislative Auditor (presented to the Minnesota Senate State and Local Government Committee), Office of the Legislative Auditor Overview -- January 2025 (2025-01-15) — OLA's own briefing deck (PDF author metadata: 'Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA)'), presented to a Senate committee on 2025-01-30 (per the file's committee-minutes pairing) and mirrored on the House's committee-documents server. Source for OLA's structure, Legislative Audit Commission composition, independence/authority clauses, and the most recent 'Year in Review' workload tally (nine performance audits, five program evaluations, two special reviews, and financial-statement audits of the State of Minnesota and three pension systems). house.mn.gov · original document
- Financial Audit Division, Office of the Legislative Auditor, Minnesota State Lottery -- Performance Audit (Report 24-08) (2024-11-21) — OLA's own 2024 performance audit of the Minnesota State Lottery, released November 21, 2024 -- the source for this entry's illustrative example of what OLA's audit function catches: retailers selling tickets on expired contracts and a lapsed criminal-background-check process. auditor.leg.state.mn.us · original document
- Office of the Revisor of Statutes, State of Minnesota, Laws of Minnesota 2025, Chapter 39 (S.F. No. 3045) -- State and Local Government and Elections Appropriations (2025-05-23) — The enacted 2026-27 biennial budget act (approved by the governor 2025-05-23) -- Article 1, Sec. 2 (LEGISLATURE) appropriates $12,365,000 in FY2026 and $12,857,000 in FY2027 specifically 'for the Office of the Legislative Auditor,' with a base of $12,867,000 in FY2028 and beyond. This is the source for this entry's budget KPI. revisor.mn.gov · original document
- U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2025 (NST-EST2025-POP) (2026-01-27) — The Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 state population estimates table, released as part of the January 27, 2026 national/state population release -- gives Minnesota's resident population as of July 1, 2025, the per-resident denominator for this entry's cost-per-person KPI (better_metrics.md discipline). www2.census.gov · original document
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The Office of the Legislative Auditor is Minnesota's state-government watchdog, created in 1973⧉ when the Legislature acted on a private study group's finding that a governor-appointed Public Examiner could not independently check the executive branch. Minnesota Statutes 3.971⧉ gives OLA authority to audit agencies, evaluate programs, and investigate misuse of public money, and requires it to run three divisions: Financial Audit, Program Evaluation, and Special Reviews. A bipartisan, bicameral 12-member Legislative Audit Commission appoints the Legislative Auditor -- currently Judy Randall -- to a six-year term, but does not review OLA's reports before they're released⧉.