ST. PAUL — Newly released data show that nearly every Minnesota state agency has violated contract and spending laws over the past year.

Republican senators held a hearing Wednesday on the violations, which happened over 1,300 times last year when vendors started work before contracts were signed or when employees committed to spending state money without agency permission.

Administration officials called the violations technical and said no taxpayer money was misspent. But they acknowledged that having so many violations of process shouldn’t be business-as-usual.

The hearing was initially intended to study how the Department of Human Services appeared to have violated contracting and procurement processes. But it expanded into a look at practices at all state agencies.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Julie Rosen called the problems troubling and said there must be change.