State Auditor Pat McCarthy

OLYMPIA – Emergency federal unemployment programs launched early in the COVID-19 pandemic included provisions that opened state unemployment benefits to fraud, the Office of the Washington State Auditor found in three audits released today.

While Washington was not alone in being targeted, the state Employment Security Department continues to struggle in answering customer questions, investigating suspected fraud and retrieving important data from its systems, the audits found.

Washington State Auditor Pat McCarthy has been appointed to the executive committee of the National State Auditors Association. The nonpartisan group represents state auditors' interests in financial management and provides training and resources to professionals in the field.

“It's an honor to serve with my colleagues across the nation as we work to provide all Americans the government transparency and accountability they expect,” said McCarthy.

“In light of the horrific attack yesterday on our nation's Capitol, it is incumbent on every American to condemn these actions. I condemn them in the strongest terms.

I also believe we must find in this chaos an opportunity to come back together as a nation. Many Washingtonians have deep concerns and frustrations about current events, but we must resist violence as a means to air them. We have more in common as Americans than we have differences.

“I am saddened by the passing of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but truly inspired by her legacy – particularly her full-throated advocacy for women's rights. That set the stage for many women leaders like me to speak out on these issues as well. She was a brilliant and successful attorney in an era when being a mother was unheard of in the profession. She was a trailblazer for women, only the second to sit on the Supreme Court. She was an advocate for equality and fairness throughout her career.

I don't think any of us who attended last year's Washington Finance Officers Association conference in Yakima could have predicted that this year we'd be meeting in an all-virtual conference. Even so, we at the State Auditor's Office are looking forward to seeing you online. And I would like to thank all of our partners in local government for working with us through the many twists and turns of the past year.

Colleagues, the hard work of accountability that you achieve with regular auditing has never been more important. Audits give reassurance to taxpayers and governments alike as we face an economic slump deeper than anything since the Great Depression. Especially when public programs like health care and emergency services are in high demand, this transparency is essential.

Washington State Auditor Pat McCarthy announced Friday she will donate a scheduled salary increase to charity.

McCarthy's scheduled annual increase of $4,000 begins July 1. State law does not allow elected officials to return cost-of-living increases, so McCarthy will donate hers to The Other Bank. It distributes personal hygiene and cleaning items to more than 13,000 low-income individuals and families in Thurston and surrounding counties each year. Items from The Other Bank cannot be purchased with food stamps, and about a third of the recipients are children.

Greetings,

Late Wednesday, June 17, legislative leadership surprised us with a second extension of the annual financial report filing deadline.

The new filing deadline is July 1.

State Auditor Pat McCarthy notified Gov.

Greetings,

As promised, I wanted to let you know as soon as possible that a limited extension of the annual financial report filing deadline has been approved by legislative leadership. The new filing deadline is June 17.