Commentary: State auditor’s office has been on a roll
 |
| Elaine M. Howle, CPA - California State Auditor | |
By Dan Walters | CalMatters Columnist |
State Auditor Elaine Howle
has been on a roll lately, repeatedly revealing how state agencies and their
programs are falling short — often way short — of performing their declared
missions.
The Employment Development Department, the state’s myriad deficient information technology projects and its scattershot and ineffective efforts to end homelessness, build affordable housing and improve the education of poor children have been among recent subjects of scathing reports from Howle’s office.
Howle only delves into issues that the Joint Legislative Audit Committee deems worthy of examination. That committee, like all other enclaves of political power in the Capitol, is controlled by Democrats and the investigations it orders are often directed at state agencies and programs managed by a Democratic governor. Thus, audit results are likely to embarrass that governor and in this era of political polarity, that is a remarkable fact.
However, it’s not a perfect
accountability system. When the Department of Motor Vehicles was in total
meltdown a few years ago, with long lines for service and nonresponsive
communications, the audit committee’s controlling Democrats refused to have
Howle investigate. It bowed to then-Gov. Jerry Brown’s promise to shape up the
DMV on his own but when Gavin Newsom succeeded him as governor, the department
was still a mess.
Last year, when equally
immense service blockages became evident at the Employment Development
Department as it tried to cope with the economic fallout from the COVID-19
pandemic, the audit committee didn’t balk at having Howle investigate. She
revealed a department in complete disarray, handing out billions of dollars
in unemployment benefits to fraudsters while delaying payments to legitimate claimants.
Howle’s latest broadside,
issued last week, is critical of a political sacred cow — the California Air
Resources Board’s (CARB) drive to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs)
and thus make California a global leader in fighting climate change. Howle’s report punched holes in CARB’s
much-ballyhooed claims of achieving great reductions.
“CARB has not done enough to
measure the GHG emissions reductions its individual transportation programs
achieve,” Howle wrote in a cover letter to Newsom and legislative leaders.
“Specifically, CARB has not collected or evaluated sufficient data to allow it
to determine whether or how its incentive programs, which pay consumers in
exchange for purchasing low- and zero-emission vehicles, reduce GHG emissions
beyond what CARB’s regulations already require.
“For example, CARB has done
little to measure the extent to which its incentive programs lead to emissions
reductions by causing individuals and businesses to acquire clean vehicles that
they otherwise would not. As a result, CARB has overstated the GHG emissions
reductions its incentive programs have achieved, although it is unclear by how
much.”
Bottom line: “The state will
fall short of meeting the 2030 goal” of a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas
emissions from 1990 levels “unless emissions reductions occur at a faster
pace.”
As with her other reports, Howle’s
dive into the very technical field of GHG emission control is embarrassing to
the state’s political leaders, who would rather have the public believe their
self-serving claims.
However, it also underscores
the value of having someone without a political motive look into issues of
governance. Thank goodness we have Howle’s office and the equally important
Legislative Analyst’s Office, which monitors the state’s budgetary issues, to
light up the darker recesses of California’s massive government.
CalMatters
is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how
California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan
Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary
Copyright by Elk Grove News © 2021. All right reserved.
Posts
Post a Comment