The Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy is pleased to announce it is seeking nominations for the newly established State Oversight Academy (SOA) Oversight Leaders designation, which will identify one or more state legislators, legislative staff, committees, or elected or appointed state officials who have demonstrated an extraordinary effort to conduct fact-based, bipartisan, in-depth oversight.
A key goal of the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy is to encourage state legislatures to conduct oversight that gets to the heart of public problems and holds the government accountable for results. The SOA Oversight Leaders recognizes legislators and staff, committees, and other state officials who use their offices to find information and improve government performance. Too often, politically or ideologically driven oversight obscures rather than illuminates important questions, damages public confidence in government, diminishes legislative comity, and wastes taxpayer dollars. When conducted on a bipartisan basis with a commitment to following the facts, oversight upholds the checks and balances envisioned by our Constitution, fosters bipartisan trust in legislatures, and improves public policy and governance.
The SOA Oversight Leaders designation is intended to recognize individuals and committees whose work contributes to the practice of high-quality oversight and stands as an example for others to follow. Nominations may be made at any time during the year by completing the nomination form below, and will be selected annually on June 1st.
