The report, required by law, warns of agencies that pose a “high risk to the state.” Auditor Elaine M. Howle summarized:
We describe in this report seven high-risk statewide issues that include aspects of water infrastructure, information security, and state management of COVID‑19 federal funds. We also conclude that five state agencies meet our criteria for posing a high risk: the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the California Department of Technology, the California Department of Health Care Services, the California Department of Public Health, and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System. Finally, we have removed state oversight of K-12 education funding from our state high-risk list because the State has made sufficient progress toward controlling risk factors.
Two timely areas of primary concern are the Employment Development Department (EDD) and water infrastructure. The EDD is the agency through which Californians are supposed to obtain unemployment payments and compensation for maternity leave. However, fraud and mismanagement have led to billions of dollars in losses. The EDD system has sent unemployment checks to prison inmates, while truly deserving Californians wait months for money that they need.
