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Changes in extension policy for candidates during audit process
2:43:41
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131 sec
Paul Seamus Ryan, Executive Director of the CFB, explains recent changes in the agency's policy regarding extensions for candidates during the audit process. These changes aim to speed up the audit completion process.
- CFB has implemented a new policy with strict limits on extensions for candidates
- The policy change was made in October of the previous year
- The new policy applies to candidates running in 2025 and future elections
- The change was not applied retroactively to avoid unfairly changing rules midstream for ongoing audits
Paul Seamus Ryan
2:43:41
Right now, they are most of these matters from 2021 and a handful from 2023 are with our legal team.
2:43:48
That's another area where in my first year on the job I've identified along with our general counsel it was a interim position, a temporary position when I onboarded with the agency.
2:44:00
We've completed.
2:44:01
We now have a permanent general counsel, Joseph Gallagher, has begun adding staff to his team.
2:44:06
He's added three lawyers within the past year, has a vacancy that he will be filling in the coming months to expand capacity specifically to work through what is a sizable enforcement backlog.
2:44:18
We've changed some policies in order to speed things up both for I also say that we are principally looking at system improvements for 2025 and into the future while we are inevitably and necessarily working through this backlog.
2:44:35
But we are splitting resources right now between the twenty twenty five election which is underway, As you know as a candidate running in the public financing program, our audit team they're the ones that process every disclosure report, send the statement review, process the statement review response and then determine public funds eligibility for the next payment date which immediately coming up is May 30.
2:45:01
So this is, you know it's tough to get through.
2:45:04
It's tough to make progress.
2:45:05
You're looking for windows among auditors and the legal team between the active engagement with the twenty twenty five election work to administer the public financing program.
2:45:15
So I don't have a date certain, but I will tell you we have plans, concrete plans that are presently being implemented to speed these things up.
2:45:23
One of the reasons, for example, for these backlogs that we've discussed in the past are that going back to 2021, the agency began granting extension requests very liberally to candidates, and candidates routinely asked for both many extensions and long extensions.
2:45:40
They were granted upon request.
2:45:43
We've changed that policy.
2:45:45
In October of last year, we've implemented a new policy of strict limits on extensions for candidates at every stage of the audit and enforcement process.