California State Auditor - Non-Profit or Government Organization of the Year

Company: California State Auditor, Sacramento, CA
Company Description: Our mission is to provide objective evaluations and effective solutions that enhance the transparency, accountability, and performance of California government for the people it serves. We follow the highest standards to provide stakeholders with reliable answers to problems.
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Organization of the Year - Non-Profit or Government Organizations - Medium-size

Nomination Title: California State Auditor

Since 1956 decision makers have turned to the California State Auditor’s Office because our reports are a catalyst for positive change in state and local governments. Our impact begins with the wide-ranging and high-profile body of work we perform. As we’ve developed more and more valuable solutions in complex public policy areas, California’s Joint Legislative Audit Committee has increasingly tasked us with reviews of the most important and contentious issues facing Californians. We have recently evaluated homelessness, education accountability, environmental concerns, and unemployment insurance fraud. After months of hard work analyzing facts and data, you'll find us at the Capitol briefing legislators, in our pressroom answering questions from the media, or at local town hall meetings helping government officials and the public understand their options. People trust what we say because our reports are unbiased and based on evidence. And when decision makers act on our recommendations, real change happens. Because of the work we have done, children have better access to preventative health care, more California students were admitted to our public universities, and local governments are in better positions to respond to disease outbreaks. Someone has to make sure government is improving every day. That's us.

Positive change happens because of us. Since 2019 we have released more than 75 reports and made nearly 1,000 recommendations to the Legislature and government agencies to improve the lives of Californians. For example, our office reported in January 2020 that millions of children in Medi-Cal had not received required testing for lead poisoning. The California Legislature and Governor were quick to pass a law that requires the ongoing identification of children who are missing lead tests so health care providers can ensure they receive them. Our July 2020 report on California’s approach to serving individuals with serious mental illnesses revived a bill that was stuck in a legislative committee. After we released our report, the bill passed and the Governor signed it into law—expanding an effective, community-based treatment program across the State. Our September 2020 report on the University of California’s admissions process showed that some issues from the national college admissions scandal were systemic at campuses like UC Berkeley. We uncovered emails and other evidence that showed campus staff inappropriately admitted 64 students as favors to donors, family, and friends. There are currently two bills making their way through the Legislature that aim to improve the integrity of this process. Finally, the Legislature approved an emergency evaluation in September 2020 that directed us to review the department handling unemployment insurance. Our January 2021 recommendations to address the department’s failures to pay timely benefits and prevent billions in fraud during the pandemic have sparked several new legislative bills.

Our increasingly high-profile workload and our recent emphasis on maximizing public policy impact set us apart from other auditors and government program evaluators. We push to find new ways to increase the rate of change in our space, to be “catalytic”—a word not often used to describe those in our field. Our work has helped Californians by increasing their access to quality health care; improving their education systems; protecting their privacy; strengthening their housing and homelessness services; and improving environmental quality. In addition to the more than 380 recommendations that government agencies have implemented since 2019, six of our recent recommendations have resulted in enacted legislation that has benefited Californians. Many bills that are making their way through the Legislature in 2021 could add to that total, including bills implementing recommendations from our 2019 evaluations of information security, gambling oversight, and emergency response efforts, and from our 2020 reports on maximizing education funding, preventing youth suicide, and developing affordable housing. For these reasons, State Auditor Elaine Howle is a national leader in our profession and our reports are often recognized nationally in our industry for excellence and impact. Other states and countries visit our office to learn about what we do so they can take their work to the next level. As one veteran journalist who has covered state government for decades wrote in a recent op-ed, our office has been “on a roll.” We plan to keep on rolling.

Homepage: https://www.auditor.ca.gov/
This page provides additional examples of our impact: https://www.auditor.ca.gov/jobs/impact.html
This links to our January 2020 report about how efforts to protect children from lead poisoning leave out millions in Medi-Cal: https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2019-105/index.html
This news article is about our childhood lead audit: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-01-08/california-children-tested-positive-for-lead-poisoning
This links to our July 2020 report about how ongoing care for Californians with serious mental illnesses is inadequate: https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2019-119/index.html
This news article describes the impact of our July 2020 report: https://capitolweekly.net/auditor-slams-state-mental-health-system-revives-lauras-law/
This links to our September 2020 report that details how qualified students face an unfair admissions process at the University of California: https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2019-113/sections.html
This news article is about our UC admissions evaluation:https://www.forbes.com/sites/elanagross/2020/09/22/the-university-of-california-system-unfairly-admitted-64-well-connect-student-state-audit-found/?sh=1ba17874ec6b
This links to our January 2021 report that shows a key state department was unprepared to assist Californians unemployed by COVID-19 shutdowns:https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2020-128and628.1/index.html
This links to our January 2021 report about how the same department issued billions of dollars in improper benefit payments:https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2020-628.2/index.html
These news articles are about our two related evaluations:https://apnews.com/article/california-jobless-claims-coronavirus-pandemic-0281a79c0e644fbe283f970ee1227ba6 and https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/EDD-mishandled-California-unemployment-claims-15899306.php
This is the recent op-ed referenced in the last question:https://calmatters.org/commentary/2021/02/california-auditor-reports-edd-dmv-carb-climate-change-unemployment/