An act to add Part 5.1 (commencing with Section 14460) to Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, relating to transportation.
SB 13, as introduced, Vidak. Office of the Transportation Inspector General.
Existing law creates various state transportation agencies, including the Department of Transportation and the High-Speed Rail Authority, with specified powers and duties. Existing law provides for the allocation of state transportation funds to various transportation purposes.
This bill would create the Office of the Transportation Inspector General in state government as an independent office that would not be a subdivision of any other government entity, to ensure that all state agencies expending state transportation funds are operating efficiently, effectively, and in compliance with federal and state laws. The bill would provide for the Governor to appoint the Transportation Inspector General for a 6-year term, subject to confirmation by the Senate, and would provide that the Transportation Inspector General may not be removed from office during the term except for good cause. The bill would specify the duties and responsibilities of the Transportation Inspector General, would require an annual report to the Legislature and Governor, and would provide that funding for the office shall, to the extent possible, be from federal transportation funds, with other necessary funding to be made available from the State Highway Account and an account from which high-speed rail activities may be funded.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:
3(a) Over the next 10 years, the state faces a $59 billion shortfall
4to adequately maintain the state highway system in a basic state
5of good repair.
6(b) There is within the Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
7a culture of waste and fraud, as exemplified by exposure of the
8deficiencies in the construction of the replacement span of the San
9Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and the efforts to internally conceal
10those deficiencies, falsified data in the testing of bridge safety, and
11Caltrans employees consuming alcohol while on the job, misusing
12state assets, and moonlighting on state time.
13(c) The 21st Annual Highway Report by the Reason Foundation,
14published in September 2014, found the following:
15(1) California has 50,462 lane miles of highways under the
16administration of Caltrans.
17(2) Overall, California spent $501,136 per state mile of highway,
18more than three times the national average, yet California’s state
19highway system ranks 45th in overall performance and cost
20effectiveness.
21(3) California spent $102,889 per state mile of highway
22specifically on maintenance, nearly four times the national average.
23(4) California spent $48,754 per state mile of highway
24specifically on administration, more than four times the national
25average.
26(d) The Legislative Analyst’s Office included the following
27concerns and recommendations related to Caltrans’ accountability
28and efficiency in the Capital Outlay Support Program Review
29report issued in May 2014:
P3 1(1) Data used to request budgetary resources for the program
2is largely unreliable due to a lack of internal control, lack of data
3collection, and an incentive to report inaccurate data.
4(2) Steps should be taken to improve data quality for the
5program.
6(e) A Transportation Inspector General should be established
7to independently investigate Caltrans, identify waste and
8inefficiencies, and report and make recommendations to the
9Legislature.
Part 5.1 (commencing with Section 14460) is added
11to Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, to read:
12
(a) There is hereby created in state government the
17independent Office of the Transportation Inspector General, which
18shall not be a subdivision of any other governmental entity, to
19ensure that the Department of Transportation, the High-Speed Rail
20Authority, and all other state agencies expending state
21transportation funds are operating efficiently, effectively, and in
22compliance with applicable federal and state laws.
23(b) The Governor shall appoint, subject to confirmation by the
24Senate, the Transportation Inspector General to a six-year term.
25The Transportation Inspector General may not be removed from
26office during that term, except for good cause.
The Transportation Inspector General shall review
28policies, practices, and procedures, and conduct audits and
29investigations of activities involving state transportation funds in
30consultation with all affected state agencies. Specifically, the
31Transportation Inspector General’s duties and responsibilities shall
32include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
33(a) To examine the operating practices of the Department of
34Transportation, the High-Speed Rail Authority, and all other state
35agencies expending state transportation funds to identify fraud and
36waste, opportunities for efficiencies, and opportunities to improve
37the data used to determine appropriate project resource allocations.
38(b) To identify best practices in the delivery of transportation
39projects and develop policies or recommend proposed
legislation
40enabling state agencies to adopt these practices when practicable.
P4 1(c) To provide objective analysis of, and when possible, offer
2solutions to, concerns raised by the public or generated within
3agencies involving the state’s transportation infrastructure and
4project delivery methods.
5(d) To conduct, supervise, and coordinate audits and
6investigations relating to the programs and operations of all state
7transportation agencies with state-funded transportation projects.
8(e) To recommend policies promoting economy and efficiency
9in the administration of programs and operations of all state
10agencies with state-funded transportation projects.
The Transportation Inspector General’s office shall not
12conduct any audit or investigation that would be redundant to or
13concurrent with any audit or investigation of the same matter being
14conducted contemporaneously by another state entity, or planned
15to be initiated pursuant to state or federal law or adopted agency
16board policy, within 18 months of the notification of the intent to
17undertake the audit or investigation by the Transportation Inspector
18General. The state entity shall provide the Transportation Inspector
19General with a summary of the results of the audit or investigation
20upon its completion, if requested.
(a) The Transportation Inspector General shall report
22annually to the Governor and Legislature with a summary of his
23or her findings, investigations, and audits. The summary shall be
24posted on the Transportation Inspector General’s Internet Web
25site and shall otherwise be made available to the public upon its
26release to the Governor and
27Legislature. The summary shall include, but need not be limited
28to, significant problems discovered by the Transportation Inspector
29General and whether recommendations of the Transportation
30Inspector General relative to investigations and audits have been
31implemented by the affected agencies. The report shall be
32submitted to the Legislature pursuant to Section 9795.
33(b) The Transportation Inspector General shall, in consultation
34with the Department of Finance, develop a methodology for
35producing a
workload budget to be used for annually adjusting the
36budget of the Office of the Transportation Inspector General,
37beginning with the budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year. To the
38extent possible, the office shall be funded with federal
39transportation funds. Should federal funding not be available to
40fully fund the office, funding shall be made available, in proportion
P5 1to the activities of the office, from the State Highway Account and
2an account from which high-speed rail activities may be funded.
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