Kentucky Auditor of Public Accounts Allison Ball and Ombudsman Jonathan Grate has filed a lawsuit in Franklin Circuit Court seeking to restore the Ombudsman Office’s access to iTWIST.
The iTWIST database houses information essential to the Ombudsman’s efforts to help Kentucky’s children and adults suffering from poor treatment by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Ombudsman access to the database also protects the identity of CHFS whistleblowers, shielding them from Cabinet retaliation.
State Auditor Allison Ball is suing Gov. Andy Beshear to restore the Ombudsman Office’s access to iTWIST. (NKyTribune file photo by Tom Latek, Kentucky Today)
Since its creation, the Ombudsman’s Office has always had full, direct, and real-time access to iTWIST. However, after the July 1 transition from the Cabinet to Auditor Ball’s Office, CHFS has obstructed this access. The General Assembly made clear with the plain language of Senate Bill 48 (2023) that iTWIST access was included in the Ombudsman’s move to the Auditor’s Office.
“The Commonwealth Office of the Ombudsman needs access to iTWIST to serve the people of Kentucky, especially its most vulnerable children and adults,” Ball said. “We have tried everything in our power to reach an agreement with the Cabinet to restore iTWIST access. But unfortunately, Governor Beshear and the Cabinet are more interested in placing unworkable and unlawful constraints on our access than helping the Commonwealth’s endangered children and adults. I am committed to pursuing every path forward to ensure the well-being of all Kentuckians.”
When asked for a comment on the lawsuit, Gov. Andy Beshear’s Communications Director Crystal Staley said, “The governor supports changing the law in the next legislative session to provide access. In the meantime, the administration has tried to work with the Auditor’s Office to provide them with the maximum access allowed under the current law, but they have refused. On numerous occasions the cabinet believed a resolution had nearly been reached, only to find the Auditor’s Office had changed its position. Today’s action shows the Auditor would rather play politics than work with the cabinet on a solution – one that meets the requirements set forth by the General Assembly.”
No word yet on when the case will be heard in court.
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