“Our investigations found wasteful decisions, poor contract oversight, unreported leave resulting in overpayments, misuse of state resources, and attendance abuse,” California State Auditor Grant Parks wrote in a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom on May 18.
One unnamed state agency wasted nearly $114,000 in public funds when they paid an analyst to stay home and not work during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the May 18 report.
“We are not naming the agency that is the subject of this report because doing so may identify or lead to the identification of the individuals mentioned in the report,” the report reads.
The auditor also didn’t provide details about why the employee was on administrative leave.
In another case, staff at the California Correctional Health Care Services didn’t record 600 hours of a nurse’s absences, according to the report.
The auditor’s office also found that a state parks and recreation supervisor used a public boat dock to store his personal boat for more than six years, causing the agency to lose up to $36,000 in potential revenue.
The California State Parks Department also didn’t report about $67,000 in housing benefits as part of the supervisor’s taxable income that resulted from his living in state-owned housing. The department told the auditor’s office that it intended to provide training and disciplinary action against the supervisor to ensure that the actions didn’t happen again, according to the report.
At the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the auditor’s office found that one of the agency’s contractors violated a state conflict-of-interest law by returning to the agency as a contractor within 12 months of leaving a district agricultural association. The office didn’t name the contractor’s association because it may identify the contractor, according to the report.
In another case, a psychiatric technician at the California Department of State Hospitals didn’t account for employee absences for a total of nearly 400 hours from October 2018 to August 2021. The error cost the state about $12,500, according to the report.
The state auditor’s office also found a supervisor at the California Department of Industrial Relations used a state vehicle to commute from his home to work. The supervisor, who was in charge of controlling access to several other state vehicles, repeatedly misused one of them in his daily commute for three years, driving about 19,600 miles.
After reporting the finding, the department issued an invoice to the supervisor in December 2022 for $4,200, which was the most conservative of three cost estimates, the auditor reported. The supervisor was also working to install location tracking systems in its vehicle fleet to prevent future misuse, according to the report.
At the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, a water and sewage plant supervisor misused state resources, including a state-owned backflow testing kit, for a private business and used computers to regularly shop online while working. In an investigation, the auditor’s office discovered that the employee visited more than 3,600 web pages unrelated to his duties on 52 workdays.
More than half of the pages he visited were online shopping sites, including Craigslist, Wayfair, eBay, and Costco, the auditor reported. The employee apparently regularly visited online classified listings for comic books and shopped for designer clothing and other products.
During the one-year period, the auditor’s office conducted investigations on 1,269 whistleblower reports. Of those, 855 lacked enough information to investigate.
The state’s Whistleblower Act authorizes the state auditor to investigate and report on substantial allegations by state agencies and employees.
From 1993 to December 2022, the auditor’s office has taken 666 actions related to whistleblower complaints. Twelve of those resulted in convictions, 104 ended in job terminations, 28 employees were demoted, 64 had their pay reduced, 372 were reprimanded, and 38 were suspended without pay, according to the report.
The auditor’s report was sent to Newsom. His office didn’t respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
