The Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) is the research arm of the Florida Legislature. OPPAGA supports the Florida Legislature by providing data, evaluative research, and objective analyses that assist legislative budget and policy deliberations. State law (substantive legislation or budget proviso), legislative leadership (Senate President and Speaker of the House), and the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee determine OPPAGA's research. OPPAGA operates under the guidance of a coordinator appointed by the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee and confirmed by the House and Senate.
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| Agency overview | |
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| Formed | July 1, 1994 |
| Headquarters | 111 West Madison Street, Suite 312 Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1475 |
| Agency executive |
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| Website | www.oppaga.state.fl.us |
History
In 1994, the Florida Legislature removed the program evaluation unit from the Florida Auditor General and created OPPAGA to help improve the performance and accountability of state government. [1] Since this time, OPPAGA has provided research services to the Legislature, including producing over 1,300 published reports.[2]
Services
OPPAGA provides a variety of research services to the Legislature, including the following.
- Reports, which evaluate a variety of state agencies and programs and analyze specific policy issues to assess the impact of a potential program or policy.[3]
- Government Program Summaries (GPS), which is an encyclopedia of more than 33 Florida state government agencies and programs.[4] GPS provides a basic agency description, includes the latest agency funding information, references other sources of agency information, and contains agency contact information and links to other sites that may be of interest.
- PolicyNotes, which is an email newsletter highlighting OPPAGA publications and other reports from the Legislature, state and federal government reports, think tank research, website resources, and other sources for policy research and program evaluation.[5]
- Contract Management, which entails overseeing outsourced projects as directed by the presiding officers, state law, and budget proviso. Such projects include a range of topics, from statewide to agency-specific to local government programs and issues. [6]
OPPAGA researches all aspects of state government and conducts work through four policy areas – Criminal and Juvenile Justice; Education; Government Operations; and Health and Human Services. A staff director heads each policy area.[7] The following list provides examples of recent work completed by each policy area.
- Criminal and Juvenile Justice:[8] Reviewed the possibility of creating pilot programs to use intermediate sanctions for some non-violent offenders (Report 10-27, March 2010).[9] The review found that these options may be appropriate for a large number of Florida's criminal justice population, as over 70% of new prison admissions and 40% of current prisoners are non-violent offenders, and the state could save $387,989 to $1.2 million for every 100 prisoners diverted from incarceration.
- Education:[10] Studied whether it would be feasible to use state-level data on promising occupations and training programs effectiveness to guide the flow of state workforce funding to postsecondary programs (Report 10-26, March 2010).[11] The report concluded that targeted programs do not perform substantially better than non-targeted programs. In addition, the state data sources have some limitations for targeting resources that make it currently infeasible to exclusively use it to direct state funding for career education programs.
- Government Operations:[12] Examined the enactment of laws to provide protections and remedies for existing and unregulated Internet poker activities in Florida (Report 09-39, November 2009).[13] Found that if the Legislature wishes to provide consumer protections for Internet poker, it could consider three options: (1) maintain the status quo and monitor federal legislation that would establish a federal licensing system; (2) adopt laws that would prohibit Internet poker; or (3) adopt laws to authorize and regulate intrastate Internet poker.
- Health and Human Services:[14] Evaluated efforts to prevent, detect, deter, and recover funds lost to fraud and abuse in the Medicaid program (Report 10-32, March 2010).[15] Determined that the Agency for Health Care Administration has taken steps to better safeguard Medicaid funds but has not implemented prior recommendations to expand its use of advanced detection methodologies, increase fines on providers that overbill for services, and ensure that managed care plans provide needed services to Medicaid beneficiaries.
Similar agencies
The federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) is the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of the United States Congress.
Other states have offices similar to OPPAGA, but the organizational placement of these offices differs among the states. Nearly half of the offices performing government program evaluation operate as part of a legislative auditor general office. In another third of the states, including Florida, evaluation offices function as independent legislative units. The remaining states house their evaluation offices within a legislative oversight or another committee (such as the legal drafting and research office).[16] Similar evaluation and audit organizations are listed below:
- Hawaii State Auditor[17]
- Maine Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability[18]
- Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor[19]
- Mississippi Joint Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review[20]
- South Carolina Legislative Audit Council[21]
- Texas Sunset Advisory Commission
- Utah Office of the Legislative Auditor General[22]
- Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission[23]
- Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau[24]
State legislative evaluation offices network through the National Legislative Program Evaluation Society[25] to share ideas for improving government operations and identify options for cost savings.
References
- ^ Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability. (n.d.). About OPPAGA. Retrieved June 24, 2025.[1]
- ^ Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability. (n.d.). OPPAGA Reports. Retrieved June 24, 2025. [2]
- ^ OPPAGA Reports
- ^ OPPAGA Government Program Summaries
- ^ OPPAGA PolicyNotes
- ^ OPPAGA Contract Reviews
- ^ OPPAGA Key Contacts by Area
- ^ OPPAGA Criminal and Juvenile Justice
- ^ OPPAGA Report 10-27
- ^ OPPAGA Education
- ^ OPPAGA Report 10-26
- ^ OPPAGA Government Operations
- ^ OPPAGA Report 09-39
- ^ OPPAGA Health and Human Services
- ^ OPPAGA Report 10-32
- ^ National Conference of State Legislatures & National Legislative Program Evaluation Society. (2008). Ensuring the Public Trust. Denver, Colorado
- ^ "State.hi.us". Archived from the original on 2010-06-08. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
- ^ Maine.gov
- ^ Auditor.leg.state.mn.us
- ^ Peer.state.ms.us
- ^ Lac.sc.gov
- ^ Le.state.ut.us
- ^ "Jlarc.state.va.us". Archived from the original on 2009-04-22. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
- ^ Legis.state.wi.us
- ^ NCSL.org Archived 2009-07-05 at the Portuguese Web Archive