Report 2019-046 Recommendation 1 Responses

Report 2019-046: Proposition 56 Tobacco Tax: State Agencies' Weak Administration Reduced Revenue by Millions of Dollars and Led to the Improper Use and Inadequate Disclosure of Funds (Release Date: January 2021)

Recommendation #1 To: Education, Department of

To provide the public with relevant information and ensure the level of accountability that state law intends, each state entity that receives Proposition 56 funds should publish the following information on its website by April 2021 for fiscal years 2017-18 through 2019-20, and within six months of the end of each fiscal year, beginning with fiscal year 2020-21:

The amount of Proposition 56 funds received by each program it administers.
The amount of Proposition 56 funds spent by each program it administers.
The amount of Proposition 56 funds obligated for future expenditures by each program it administers.
Any corrections to the information it reported in previous fiscal years.

1-Year Agency Response

Beginning in fiscal year 2017-18, Education has annually provided a narrative report which identifies the amount of money received from the California Healthcare Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016 Fund and how the money was spent, including the obligated amounts. Additionally, to strengthen transparency and provide a clearer understanding, Education now includes an Excel spreadsheet, summarizing the accounting data provided in the narrative report.

Education published the fiscal year 2020-21 Proposition 56 funding information on its web site on October 11, 2021, at the following locations:

TUPE Expenditure Report for Fiscal Year 2020-21 - Alcohol, Tobacco & Other Drug Prevention (CA Dept of Education)

tupeprop56budgexpend2021.xlsx (live.com).

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

Education's reported Proposition 56 funding received and spent for each fiscal year can be found at: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/at/tupefunding.asp

6-Month Agency Response

Education published the fiscal year 2019-20 Proposition 56 funding information on its web site on March 12, 2021, at the following locations:

https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/at/tupefunding.asp

https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/at/prop56expendreport1920.asp

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

We will evaluate whether Education has posted its fiscal year 2020-21 information within six months of the end of the fiscal year in our assessment of its one-year response, due in January 2022.

60-Day Agency Response

As indicated in Education's response to the audit report, the required data was published on its web site as it became available each year as follows:

Fiscal year 2017-18 was posted on April 18, 2019

Fiscal year 2018-19 was posted on October 1, 2020.

Links to the relevant web pages are provided below.

https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/at/tupefunding.asp

https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r8/expendreportfy1718.asp

https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/at/tupefunding.asp

https://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r8/expendreportfy1819.asp

Education anticipates publishing the fiscal year 2019-20 Proposition 56 funding information by the end of March 2021.

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

As of March 12, 2021, Education had published data for fiscal year 2019-20. Education's ongoing compliance with the recommendation to publish information within six months of the end of each fiscal year will be reviewed in future responses to this recommendation.

All Recommendations in 2019-046

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.