Report 2019-046 Recommendation 20 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 #20 To: Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee

To ensure that it is meeting the Legislature's expectations, TEROC should either provide the master plan to the Legislature every two years, as state law requires, or seek legislative change to reduce the frequency with which it is required to produce the master plan.

6-Month Agency Response

TEROC has pulished its two year plan. The dates covered are 2021-2022, with the next plan to cover 2023-2024.

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

TEROC issued its master plan for 2021-2022 as recommended, but a brief review of the plan suggests that TEROC did not address all of the required elements. For example, the plan lacks implementation strategies and progress reports for all target populations, both of which are required by law. TEROC should review the relevant requirements and ensure that its next master plan addresses each of the elements required by law.

60-Day Agency Response

To comply with state law, TEROC will produce and submit its master plan to the Legislature biennially so that subsequent master plans will cover two calendar years. TEROC is in the final production stages for the 2021-2022 Master Plan, which will be published online and mailed to the offices of each California State Senator and Assemblymember by April 2021. This plan will cover the period of 2021-2022. The next two-year plan will be released in early 2023 to cover the period of 2023-2024. For future plans, TEROC will modify the process for writing and disseminating the plan to ensure that it is released biennially, and will consider releasing a shorter report every two years and a longer report once every ten years.

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

We look forward to reviewing TEROC's master plan upon its completion and submission.

All Recommendations in 2019-046

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.