Report 2018-119 Recommendation 7 Responses

Report 2018-119: California Department of Fish and Wildlife: It Is Not Fulfilling Its Responsibilities Under the California Environmental Quality Act (Release Date: June 2019)

Recommendation #7 To: Fish and Wildlife, Department of

To determine more accurately the resources that it needs to review all CEQA documents it receives, the department should implement a timekeeping mechanism by December 2019 that requires staff to track the hours they spend on CEQA-related activities.

6-Month Agency Response

The Department issued a memo finalizing the Departmentwide Policy for prioritizing CEQA document review and comment and a Policy identifying the Departmentwide expectations for CEQA review and comment. Additionally, that memo requires that staff immediately begin tracking hours spent on CEQA related activities using new service location codes in their monthly electronic timesheet reporting. (Documents submitted to Auditor)

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Fully Implemented

The Department provided a memo that indicates staff are expected to track time spent on CEQA-related activities and report this time in two specific categories. The memo also provides examples of the type of activities to be associated with these categories.

60-Day Agency Response

The Department has this capability within its existing time reporting system to track this and has taken the necessary steps to support implementation. Additional direction and instructions to employees on how to track hours spent on CEQA-related activities on their monthly electronic timesheets is currently in development. The Department has made progress toward this goal through recent training provided to all program staff during the Department's transition to FI$Cal. This training covered the correct application of fiscal coding, as well as procedures for tracking and monitoring of expenditures and staff time. The Department also implemented an electronic timekeeping system after the audit period that improves the accuracy of staff time reporting.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2018-119

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.