Report 2009-101 Recommendation 15 Responses

Report 2009-101: Department of Social Services: For the CalWORKs and Food Stamp Programs, It Lacks Assessments of Cost-Effectiveness and Misses Opportunities to Improve Counties' Antifraud Efforts (Release Date: November 2009)

Recommendation #15 To: Social Services, Department of

This recommendation has been superseded by a recommendation from a subsequent report. See 2015-503 #13.

To expedite the distribution of the $42.1 million in food stamp overpayment collections to the appropriate entities, Social Services should continue to work with the USDA and make its reconciliation of the backlog of overpayments a priority. Further, it should develop procedures to ensure that it promptly reconciles future overpayments. Additionally, Social Services should continue to monitor the counties collection reports to ensure that counties are reporting accurate information.

1-Year Agency Response

Social Services indicates that as of June 2010 all overpayment collections were recovered. The total overpayment collections changed from $42.1 million to $39.8 million due to adjustments and revisions. As for the interest that counties earned while holding these funds, Social Services indicated it collected and forwarded $465,000 to the federal government and that it is working with counties to collect the remaining interest earnings. Social Services also reports implementing a process to ensure the quarterly reconciliations are done timely and accurately. Finally, during the IEVS reviews, Social Services indicates staff are reviewing the accuracy of counties collection reports. (2011-406, p. 213).

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: See 2015-503 #13 for the most current assessment

Subsequent to the original publication of this response, the state auditor considered this recommendation to be fully implemented.

All Recommendations in 2009-101

Agency responses received after June 2013 are posted verbatim.