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Mr. Speaker, the California State Auditor, the non-partisan official auditor for the state, has just released a report that updates its assessment of the state's high-risk agencies. And the contents of this report are truly stunning.
Not really that stunning, actually, for those of us who have experienced the California state government at work. But even given our very low expectations, what the auditor has just reported is truly troubling.
And this comes, by the way, as our state's governor, Gavin Newsom, has recently boasted that California is the original doge. Newsom held out California government as a model of quote, efficient, responsive, and accountable government. So let's juxtapose that very notable statement, very surprising statement, with the clear-eyed fact-finding of the state auditor.
So, in this new report, which is issued annually, the auditor identifies high-risk state agencies. What does that mean? It means they pose a substantial risk of serious detriment to the state or its residents. To be considered high-risk, an agency must not only exhibit serious waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement, but must also have failed to take adequate corrective action.
So, in this new report, the auditor has identified eight separate California agencies as high-risk. Four of those eight have joined the club, this dubious distinction, during the Newsom administration, including the newly added this year, Department of Social Services.
Among the findings as to why these various agencies are considered high-risk are that massive payment errors in our CalFresh program could now cost the state $2.5 billion in federal funds. With Medi-Cal eligibility ongoing problems in determining who's eligible, continuing to make payments to people who don't meet the income threshold or who have left the state entirely, is also putting billions of dollars at risk.
Continued fraud and overpayment with our unemployment benefit insurance benefits are costing the state, continue to cost the state, billions of dollars. This, of course, after the massive $32 billion fraud in unemployment benefits during the COVID years.
Incredibly, the state has missed six straight deadlines for its annual comprehensive financial report, which puts in jeopardy our credit rating as well as federal funding. The auditor's report documents that projects languish for months, for years, as antiquated systems beleaguer our bureaucracy. This, despite Silicon Valley being a stone's throw away, you have state entities that continue to fall short of minimum standards for information security, for cybersecurity, putting our state, our data, our privacy at risk.
But alarmingly, it is more than just cybersecurity. It's also the security of our physical infrastructure. For instance, the auditor finds that there are 49 dams that pose an extremely high hazard to life and property. And it's getting worse. In just the last two years, the number of dams rated either poor or unsatisfactory has increased by 73%.
The quality of government service is also unacceptably low. With the EDD, for example, not only do we have continuing ongoing massive fraud and overpayments, but the folks who actually deserve to get paid benefits have a heck of a time getting the benefits they're entitled to. The auditor found that on average, the typical claimant has to call the EDD two to five times per week just to get assistance. And the EDD has consistently failed to meet federal benchmarks for timely payments to those who are actually deserving of benefits. Whereas those who are committing fraud against the system seem to have no trouble getting their hands on as much money as they would like.
There are other examples that just truly boggle the mind in this report. For example, the aforementioned EDD during the COVID years decided to order thousands of mobile devices, 7,224 to be exact, cell phones, hotspots, so that employees who aren't going into work can continue to do their jobs. Well, these mobile devices, even after they were no longer being used because the pandemic was over, the state continued to pay for them, for thousands of them, continued to pay service fees, costing the state millions upon millions of dollars.
Another illustrative example comes from CARB, the Air Resources Board, that is responsible in many ways for the very high gas prices that the citizens of California have to pay. The report found that there was one particular CARB employee who was paid $171,446 in salary on an annual basis. So, a pretty decent salary they're getting paid. Here's the problem: it was for nearly 15 months after the employee had stopped working and continued to get paid.
On top of all of this, the auditor found rampant nepotism at the Department of General Services and Caltrans when it came to hiring. They'd hire their family members. They'd hire their friends for these state jobs. They'd even find instances where managers gave the candidates interview questions in advance in order to help them get the job.
Now, all of this is in addition to the very well-known examples of just mind-boggling fraud and waste that exists in the California government. We, of course, have high-speed rail, now estimated to cost $128 billion, which is several times more than initially anticipated, where after nearly 20 years, we still haven't seen any track laid. We have homelessness, where there was another state audit that found that the state spent $24 billion, lost track of the money, couldn't tell us where it went, couldn't tell us if it did any good. Meanwhile, the homeless population in California increased substantially to the point where half of the unsheltered homeless in this country reside in California.
Or more recently, we had the 911 system where taxpayers were charged on their phone bills for years. $650 million was spent to build out a new 911 system, and then the state had to scrap the whole project because the technology doesn't work.
Mr. Speaker, this is absolutely unacceptable. Californians sacrifice so much, paying the highest taxes in the country, and yet our citizens also get the least in return. I will continue to call for accountability for the agencies and, more importantly, the political leaders in California who refuse to reform our state government in a manner that more appropriately and effectively serves our citizens. And I'll also continue to use every tool we have here at the federal level to insist upon the state giving our taxpayers a higher return on their investment. And I will make sure that everyone is aware that when the governor says that California government is a model of efficiency and responsiveness, nothing could be further from the truth.