Responding to a lack of oversight that has resulted in more than $177 million in losses for the state, Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem, announced Wednesday the selection of three new members to the Joint Committee on Information Policy and Technology.

Huebsch convened the Task Force on Information Technology Failures to investigate failed computer projects. The team reported a lack of oversight in computer projects undertaken by the state and voiced a need for monitoring IT developments.

In addition to the Senate�s reinstatement of the Joint Committee on Information Policy and Technology, Huebsch and the Task Force on IT Failures appointed Rep. Phil Montgomery, R-Ashwaubenon, to be the committee�s co-chair.

Montgomery said he was honored to be selected for the position and hoped the committee would enable all state legislators to use their expertise in order to provide accountability.

�Before we ask taxpayers for another dime, we need to make sure that we have been as accountable as possible,� Montgomery said.

The Assembly appointees join the three current committee members from the Senate to wait for the final additions to the committee later this week. After the four final appointments are made, the committee will begin to meet.

Rep. Louis Molepske, D-Stevens Point, said in a previous interview with The Badger Herald the task force spent time looking into failed projects, including a computer payroll system for the University of Wisconsin System that cost $24 million.

�We spent several millions of dollars, and after it was spent, we got nothing,� Molepske said. �There is nothing the taxpayer could look at or hold to see what that money was spent on.�

Huebsch said that the IT Committee would have an important responsibility to prevent �expensive and unnecessary mistakes� down the road.

�Every dollar that�s wasted on failed computer projects is a dollar that could have gone to Wisconsin�s top priorities: educating our children, providing health care for those who can�t provide for themselves, and stimulating the economy and creating good-paying jobs,� Huebsch said in a statement.

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� Beth Mueller contributed to this report.