California ‘DOGE’ Proves State Government is Too BIG and Unaccountable

“Waste and Inefficiency, Improper Hiring, and Other Improper Governmental Activities” is the subtitle of the California State Auditor’s latest “Investigations of Improper Activities by State Agencies and Employees.”

There are some real doozies.

I have for years recommended cutting the size of California’s state government in half – except for the State Auditor’s office. It needs more funding, more employees and the autonomy to be California’s own DOGE – Department of Government Efficiency.

Buckle up.

“An accounting supervisor with the Department of Health Care Services (Health Care Services) failed to deposit a check for nearly $875,000 from the county of Los Angeles more than two years ago,” the latest state audit reports. “Health Care Services’ failure to promptly deposit the check resulted in waste and inefficiency.”

So the check just sat in someone’s in box for 2 years? No, it’s far more convoluted than that.

Here is what the auditor reported:

LA County contacted Health Care Services in December 2021 to ask about a missing check in the amount of $874,707 and submitted a request to reissue the missing reimbursement. A new check to LA County was issued, and so was a second check the following month for the missing $874,707. LA County deposited both checks.

LA County issued a check refunding Health Care Services for the duplicate payment of $874,707, and that is what was not deposited.

As the State Auditor correctly summarized:

“The accounting supervisor’s failure to promptly deposit the check violated state policy and was economically wasteful, depriving the State from using the $874,707 for other departmental needs over the last two years. Had our office not received and investigated the complaint, Health Care Services would likely not have followed up on the unclaimed check and could have forfeited the opportunity to recoup the funds.”

God help us.

California Department of Tax and Fee Administration

150 current and former employees incurred more than $92,000 for unsupported travel expenses that occurred before 2024 at the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration.

Formerly the Board of Equalization, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, the agency tasked with extracting sales and use and fuel and cigarette taxes from businesses in California, allowed more than $92,000 in unnecessary/unauthorized/gratuitous travel expenses by its own employees?

The auditor reported:

These expenses included charges such as airfare and rental cars and were paid for directly by the department. The employees subsequently did not submit any justification for the expenses.

As with nearly every private sector company or government agency where employees have to travel for business, “in order to support state-paid travel expenses, employees must submit a travel expense claim or explanation to their supervisor for approval that provides the justification for the trip and expenses, and they must include supporting receipts when appropriate.”

However, the state auditor “also found that CDTFA did not maintain an effective system of controls to provide oversight.”

This is just inexcusable:

“An official admitted that the travel unit had not reconciled charges against travel claims for at least three or four years. She also reported that when she discussed this with the two supervisors who have direct oversight of the travel unit, the supervisors were not even aware that their unit needed to perform this function. Both oversight officials explained that CDTFA is attempting to develop and document a reconciliation process whereby travel unit staff reconcile travel charges against expense claims on a monthly basis to ensure that employees submit an appropriate travel claim for the charges.”

Other. People’s. Money. Yet the agency is quite effective in collecting sales and use and fuel and cigarette taxes from California private sector businesses.

UPDATE : Tamma Adamek, Strategic Initiatives and External Affairs Division with the CDTFA emailed and said the agency was “dinged for not processing paperwork for about $92,000 in travel expenses in a timely way.” She also said that “since the State Auditor’s report was issued, employees have submitted and our team has processed travel expense claims and explanations for all of the expenses cited in the report.”

CalVet

The State Auditor reports that CalVet purchased 150 mattresses—costing more than $200 a piece—to replace old and worn out mattresses for residents in the skilled nursing unit at the home. However, the home disposed of at least 17 of those mattresses before they were ever used because they were stored outside for an extended period and became damaged from exposure to the elements.

Stuck on stupid.

CalVet also purchased 15 specialized bed frames, at $1,561 each, for its fall-risk residents at the home. As of February 2024, the home had not put the bed frames into service and was storing 13 of them outside, exposed to the elements, where the bed frames rusted.

I’m shaking my head. What is the matter with these people?

Multiple State Agencies – Improper Hiring

“A Manager’s Gross Misconduct Resulted in Numerous Unlawful Appointments.”

According to the State Auditor, a manager who worked at various state agencies was charging clients for classes on “how to get a state job” and teaching them to falsify their exams and qualifications.

Unsurprisingly, “the manager used the methods he promoted in his business to unlawfully obtain state positions for himself.”

“All four subjects of this investigation—the manager and three of his clients—held unlawful appointments in state service,” the auditor reported.

Anyone want to bet on whether this manager and the three “clients” are still employed by the state?

The State Auditor’s recommendations: “To remedy the effects of the improper governmental activities this investigation identified and to prevent those activities from recurring, Caltrans should pursue appropriate corrective or disciplinary action against the manager.”

But have no fear – CalHR is “evaluating the improper activities identified in this report” and “will take the lead in coordinating with the impacted departments and will provide direction to each department to help them investigate each individual’s unlawful appointment(s).”

Ya, you betcha.

However… “CalHR noted that it is was finalizing its unlawful appointment policy and accompanying documents for state departments and asserted that the policy must be finalized before providing direction to the impacted departments included in this report.”

Don’t hold your breath.

Another improper hiring situation took place at the Department of General Services. The State Auditor’s “investigation determined that from 2020 through 2022, a custodian supervisor and two building managers engaged in improper hiring practices, including hiring family members and providing special assistance to their acquaintances during the hiring process.”

I’m shocked. Because “Nepotism is expressly prohibited in the state workplace.”

However, Department of General Services “plans to conduct an investigation to determine whether it has sufficient evidence to support corrective or disciplinary actions against the employees or to void unlawful appointments.”

No one has been canned. That was 2022.

California Department of Education

“The California Department of Education does not conduct on-site reviews of nonpublic agencies as required by state law, despite collecting $1.6 million for the 2024 calendar year from nonpublic agencies to do so, nor does it have an established process to monitor nonpublic agencies.”

Dept. of Education’s on-site reviews “are intended to ensure that nonpublic agencies are appropriately providing alternative special education services to students with exceptional needs.”

Nonpublic agencies are private, nonsectarian establishments or individuals that provide alternative special education services—such as physical and occupational therapy, orientation and mobility services, and language and speech development and remediation.

“Witnesses were unable to explain why Education did not monitor nonpublic agencies despite collecting fees.”

Gross incompetence, anyone? Who cares?

While these examples of corruption or incompetence, or corruption and incompetence are egregious, we can be grateful that there are good and ethical state employees who became whistleblowers and worked with the California State Auditor to expose and correct these situations.

And, we are equally thankful for the California State Auditor.

These agencies wouldn’t survive for one week in the private sector. Did I already say we need to cut the size of California’s state government in half?