An investigation of hundreds of whistleblower complaints filed with the state auditor has revealed $280,000 in inappropriate expenditures by California agencies in 2022.
“Our investigations found wasteful decisions, poor contract oversight, unreported leave resulting in overpayments, misuse of state resources, and attendance abuse,” State Auditor Grant Parks wrote in a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom 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 report, published May 18.
“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,” according to the report. The auditor also did not provide details about why the employee was on administrative leave.
In another case, staff at the California Correctional Health Care Services did not record 600 hours of a nurse’s absences, according to the report.
The auditor’s office also found 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 state parks department also did not 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 it intended to provide training and disciplinary action against the supervisor to ensure the actions didn’t happen again, according to the report.
At the Department of Food and Agriculture, the auditor’s office found 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 did not name the contractor’s association because it may identify them, according to the report.
In another case, a psychiatric technician at the Department of State Hospitals did not 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 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 this private business and used computers to regularly shop online while working. In an investigation, the auditor’s office discovered 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 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.