Posts Tagged: audit

Outside auditor takes critical look at stem cell agency

A researcher examines meat cultured in laboratory conditions from stem cells. (Photo: Alex_Traksel, via Shutterstock)

by DAVID JENSEN posted 11.09.2021

California’s $12 billion stem cell agency needs to do better in several critical areas, ranging from planning for the replacement of its current chair to handling information that is key to its operations as well as the tracking of potential sources of royalties. That’s according to that latest performance audit of the 17-year-old agency.

State auditor targets prison rehab programs

Folsom State Prison east of Sacramento. (Photo: Wikipedia)

by JOHN HOWARD and MONET MUSCAT posted 01.31.2019

The state auditor says the California prison system’s programs to reduce recidivism aren’t working, noting that inmates who complete the programs wind up back behind bars at roughly the same rates as those who don’t. “These results are  serious enough to highlight an urgent need for Corrections to take a more active and meaningful role in ensuring that these programs are effective,” California State Auditor Elaine Howle reported. 

State auditor hits UC for secret fund, excessive salaries

UC Berkeley students at Sather Gate. (Photo: Rightdx, via Shutterstock)

by ELAINE HOWLE, California State Auditor posted 04.25.2017

Our audit of the University of California Office of the President’s budget and staffing processes revealed the following: The Office of the President did not disclose to the University of California Board of Regents, the Legislature, and the public $175 million in budget reserve funds. It spent significantly less than it budgeted for and asked for increases based on its previous years’ over‑estimated budgets rather than its actual expenditures.

State Bar asks CA Supreme Court for bailout

Photo illustration of Lady Justice. (Kaspars Grinvalds)

by JOHN HOWARD posted 10.03.2016

Blocked by lawmakers at the 11th hour and facing a fiscal emergency, the State Bar of California went directly to the state Supreme Court seeking authority to levy dues on thousands of attorneys. The Bar, which filed the request Friday, said it would go out of business early next year without the money generated by the dues.

A state review of a dental program that serves low-income Californians shows that significantly fewer dentists are accepting those patients, despite a surge in demand. According to the California Department of Health Care Services report, released July 1, the number of dentists accepting Medi-Cal patients fell by 14.5 percent between 2008 and 2013. That’s a loss of 1,354 providers for the Denti-Cal program, which is the dental portion of Medi-Cal.

Target: CalPERS’ private equity profits

The CalPERS' governing board during a meeting several years ago at the pension fund's headquarters. (Photo: CalPERS board)

by ED MENDEL posted 07.07.2015

Calpensions: After the board was told last April that CalPERS could not track the incentive payments, known as “carried interest,” a wave of media criticism grew with stories in the New York Times late last month and Fortune magazine last week. A pension fraud investigator, Edward Siedle of Benchmark Financial Services, launched an Internet fund-raising campaign on Kickstarter to raise $750,000 for a “forensic investigation” of the California Public Employees Retirement System.

Brown, lawmakers hunt Medi-Cal money

Demonstrators seeking more funding for health care coverage gathered recently at the state Capitol. Inside, the Senate voted to expand coverage to undocumented choldren. (Photo: Alvin Chen, Capitol Weekly)

by VIRGINIA MCCORMICK posted 06.21.2015

Hoping to fill a “billion-dollar hole,” lawmakers were poised to gather in a special session to figure out new sources of funding for the state’s complex health care programs – including Medi-Cal.

Audit ordered for low-income health program

A sign advertising a Los Angeles medical clinic. (Photo: JDS via Shutterstock)

by HANNAH GUZIK posted 08.18.2014

A state legislative committee has ordered an audit of provider directories that are given to people in California’s low-income health program, after reports of major inaccuracies. The audit will examine the managed-care directories, whether they list enough doctors who are accepting new patients and whether state regulators have done their jobs overseeing that aspect of the Medi-Cal program.

At CalSTRS, the two trade associations have not made complaints. A spokesman said two CalSTRS officials have received awards from the associations, and others have appeared on panels or made addresses at association conferences.

Ricardo Lara is viewed in the Capitol as something of a rising star — a trajectory that ironically was helped by the still-unfolding scandals involving the city of Bell, which is in his district.

During his first and only term in the Assembly, he was named chair of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, an