Report 2010-103R Recommendation 5 Responses

Report 2010-103R: Department of Public Health: It Faces Significant Fiscal Challenges and Lacks Transparency in Its Administration of the Every Woman Counts Program (Release Date: July 2010)

Recommendation #5 To: Public Health, Department of

To ensure that Public Health can maintain fiscal control over the EWC program, we recommend that it seek legislation or other guidance from the Legislature to define actions the program may take to ensure that spending stays within amounts appropriated for a fiscal year.

1-Year Agency Response

Public Health’s one-year response to this recommendation focused on its efforts to develop and promulgate regulations that will direct its future administration of the EWC program, and discussed its efforts to develop a formal caseload estimation process as a tool to better communicate to the Legislature the affect of proposed appropriations. Legislative Action: Legislation enacted. Chapter 717, Statutes of 2010 (Senate Bill 853), requires Public Health to provide the Legislature with quarterly updates on caseload, estimated expenditures, and related program monitoring data for the EWC program. Moreover, Assembly Bill 1640 of the 2009–10 Regular Legislative Session would have, among other things, required Public Health to notify the Legislature at least 90 days prior to changing EWC eligibility requirements. However, the governor vetoed this bill on September 29, 2010 (2012-406, p. 85).

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

All Recommendations in 2010-103R

Agency responses received after June 2013 are posted verbatim.