Report 2020-107 Recommendations
When an audit is completed and a report is issued, auditees must provide the State Auditor with information regarding their progress in implementing recommendations from our reports at three intervals from the release of the report: 60 days, six months, and one year. Additionally, Senate Bill 1452 (Chapter 452, Statutes of 2006), requires auditees who have not implemented recommendations after one year, to report to us and to the Legislature why they have not implemented them or to state when they intend to implement them. Below, is a listing of each recommendation the State Auditor made in the report referenced and a link to the most recent response from the auditee addressing their progress in implementing the recommendation and the State Auditor's assessment of auditee's response based on our review of the supporting documentation.
Recommendations in Report 2020-107: California Department of Toxic Substances Control: The State's Poor Management of the Exide Cleanup Project Has Left Californians at Continued Risk of Lead Poisoning (Release Date: October 2020)
| Recommendations to Toxic Substances Control, Department of | ||
|---|---|---|
| Number | Recommendation | Status |
| 1 | To ensure that it minimizes the exposure of children and other at-risk individuals to lead contamination, DTSC should immediately solicit a contractor to clean the 31 remaining childcare centers, parks, and schools. It should use the TCRA process to expedite this cleanup if necessary. |
Fully Implemented |
| 2 | To ensure its ability to clean as many lead-contaminated properties as possible in a timely manner, DTSC should immediately begin soliciting an additional contractor to clean properties within the cleanup site. It should include performance standards for the pace of cleanup in its existing and future cleanup contracts. |
Fully Implemented |
| 3 | To ensure that the public and policy makers have the information they need to make informed decisions, DTSC should, by no later than April 2021, identify and publicize a date by which it expects to complete cleanup for all properties that meet or exceed the standard for lead contamination of 80 ppm identified in DTSC's cleanup plan. It should post this information on its website and, at least every six months, publish an update that indicates whether it is on track to meet that expected completion date based on its rate of progress. |
Partially Implemented |
| 4 | To ensure that it has sufficient funding to clean up all lead-contaminated properties in the cleanup site, DTSC should do the following: -Identify the full amount of funding it needs to complete the cleanup of the 3,200 most contaminated properties and the remaining 4,600 contaminated properties. It should submit a request for funding in time for spring 2021 budget discussions that includes a range of funding options that spans from funding for the full cleanup to funding for only a portion of the remaining contaminated properties. -Immediately revise its cost estimation methods to encompass the factors that it now knows will affect its overall costs. If needed, it should contract for expertise in determining accurate and complete estimates of the remaining cleanup cost. |
Partially Implemented |
| 5 | To protect against the unsustainably high costs it has incurred thus far in the cleanup project, DTSC should structure its future cleanup contracts to at least partially incorporate fixed prices. |
Fully Implemented |