Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich has announced a proposal to review how several state agencies spend money.
The one-time review would compare spending habits of five to 10 of Missouri's largest state agencies. Schweich says it could save the state millions of dollars.
"It's common among major corporations to look at their various departments and groups, to look at the different approaches that are going on in terms of procurement, in terms of travel, things like that, and then implement policies that insure that those best practices are used across those corporate lines," Schweich said.
The review would require legislative approval. Kurt Schaefer(R, Columbia) will sponsor the bill in the Missouri Senate.
"I suspect that what we will find is (that) there is a big disparity across agencies in how they do things," Schaefer said. "And we will find ways to save the taxpayers money and to find greater efficiencies from those agencies."
Although travel is one of the areas that would be examined, the review would not focus on Governor Jay Nixon's practice of billing state agencies for his flights around the state for press conferences and other events. Schweich says he'll conduct a separate audit for that.