Report 2012-117 Recommendations and Responses in 2015-041

Report 2012-117: State Athletic Commission: Its Ongoing Administrative Struggles Call Its Future Into Question

Department Number of Years Reported As Not Fully Implemented Total Recommendations to Department Not Implemented After One Year Not Implemented as of 2014-041 Response Not Implemented as of Most Recent Response
Department of Consumer Affairs 2 1 1 1 1
State Athletic Commission 2 28 8 7 6

Recommendation To: Athletic Commission, State

To ensure its future financial stability, the commission should work with Consumer Affairs to establish a long-term financial plan that contains the following:
• A reasonable annual budget with an accurate forecast of planned expenditures. The commission should determine this budget based in part on its ability or inability to meet the expenditure limitations stipulated in the solvency plan.
• The number of inspectors necessary to regulate each type of event. In establishing this number, the commission should take into account the varying size and complexity of the events. It should also determine the cost for each inspector to regulate an event.
• An estimate of its costs to regulate different types of events. To arrive at a reasonable estimate, the commission will need to track at least six months of actual expenditures.
• The number of staff necessary to perform all of the commission's necessary functions. The commission will need to conduct a workload analysis as soon as possible to determine how many staff it requires and adjust its planned expenditures accordingly.
• Funds for athletic inspectors' training that are sufficient to meet the requirement that inspectors receive training within six months of an event that they are scheduled to work.
• Strategies to increase revenue. The commission may need to conduct analyses to determine whether the opportunities it is currently considering are legally permissible and fiscally prudent. If so, the commission should take steps to implement those strategies, including seeking any necessary legislative changes.

Response

The Commission began a workload analysis in August 2015 and plans to have this recommendation completed by October 15, 2015.

Recommendation To: Athletic Commission, State

To ensure that it adequately tracks critical information related to its basic functions and mission, the commission should work with Consumer Affairs to ensure that the new online program will meet its needs and requirements. Once the program is in place, the commission should use it as its central means for tracking its operations.

Response

The Commission responded on 9/26/14 that it will work with the Department of Consumer Affairs to ensure that BreEZe meets our requirements. DCA initially scheduled the Commission to begin planning and implementation in Release 3. However, Release 3 has been delayed pending a cost benefit analysis. Once the cost benefit analysis has been completed, the Commission will have more information regarding implementation.

Recommendation To: Athletic Commission, State

To ensure that it accurately collects revenue, the commission should formalize policies and procedures directing inspectors to take the necessary steps to make sure they correctly and consistently calculate taxes, assessments, and fees in accordance with state law and regulations.

Response

The Commission has formalized and implemented procedures to ensure the Commission is correctly and consistently calculating taxes, assessments and fees in accordance with the state law and regulations.

Recommendation To: Athletic Commission, State

To ensure that it accurately collects revenue, the commission should calculate the pension assessment by counting all the complimentary tickets issued, except for working complimentary tickets, not merely the complimentary tickets that are redeemed. If the commission does not agree that it should calculate the pension assessment by counting all the complimentary tickets issued, it should seek a change in its regulations to calculate the fee based only on the number of complimentary tickets redeemed.

Response

As the Commission responded on 9/26/14, it does not agree with Auditors interpretation of the Commission's rules. In addition, the Commission's interpretation of its rules is correct.

Furthermore, the Auditor's interpretation would devastate the industry, as comp tickets are used to market events. Counting the complimentary tickets issued, rather than the complimentary tickets redeemed, is not the intent of the regulation and would lead to an unreasonable result.

Recommendation To: Athletic Commission, State

The commission needs to establish regulations that describe its process for determining its ticket assessment for the neurological account so that it avoids the use of underground regulations.

Response

The Commission proposed regulation changes that would address this CSA Audit Recommendation on June 27, 2014. The regulatory process has taken longer than anticipated due to several amendments that were required.. The Commission has taken into consideration all comments and suggested amendments from the public and the Department of Consumer Affairs and anticipated that the regulations will be fully implemented by November 1, 2016.

Recommendation To: Athletic Commission, State

To operate the pension plan effectively and maximize boxers' benefits, the commission should create policies and procedures for its administration to ensure that it transfers funds on a regular basis from the pension fund's state account into its investment account.

Response

The Commission's Executive Officer is working closely with the Department of Consumer Affairs' Budget Office to create a procedure to transfer funds from the pension fund's state account into its investment account.

Recommendation To: Athletic Commission, State

To comply with state law governing the pension plan, the commission needs to, after it has an accurate and complete listing of all licensed athletes and box office information by event type, conduct the analysis to determine the feasibility of expanding the pension plan to cover all athletes and report the results to the Legislature.

Response

The Commission plans to implement this recommendation but does not have the expertise to conduct the analysis. The Commission plans to contract to have the analysis completed when funds are available. The current budget will not cover the expenditure; however, the Commission believes that resources will be sufficient to implement this recommendation by October 1, 2016.

Recommendation To: Consumer Affairs, Department of

To ensure that all designated parties complete statements of economic interests as the law requires, Consumer Affairs should improve its policies and procedures to ensure that it identifies any incomplete statements and promptly notifies the Fair Political Practices Commission when necessary.

Response

The Department of Consumer Affairs continues to work closely with the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC), as well as all Boards within the DCA umbrella, to ensure all conflict-of-interest filings are timely and complete. To streamline its current procedures and ensure that all designated parties complete Form 700s correctly and timely, the Department executed the purchase order for an electronic conflict-of-interest filing system on September 3, 2015. This online filing system will provide custom notification to filers, ensure minor errors are corrected before filing with the Fair Political Practices Commission and enable the Department to monitor the status of each filer's forms (not started, started but not completed, completed and submitted) and run management reports.

The Department is currently working with the vendor on the specific needs of the system to best serve its designated filers. The Department anticipates access to the new online Form 700 filing system will be available later this year. At that time, the Department will distribute a revised conflict-of-interest procedures memo to all filers, as well as the necessary training modules, in order to properly educate, register and prepare users of the new conflict-of-interest filing system.

Policies and procedures regarding the Form 700 Statement of Economic Interests are outlined in the Department's Board Member Orientation Training, which Board Members are required to complete within one year of assuming office. Additionally, the Deputy Director for Board and Bureau Relations regularly communicates with Bureau Chiefs, Executive Officers and Board Members regarding Form 700 filing deadlines. The Department also has an attorney in its Legal Unit designated as the Ethics Officer available to answer conflict-of-interest questions.

Current Status of Recommendations

All Recommendations in 2015-041