Report 2016-104 Recommendation 14 Responses
Report 2016-104: California Public Utilities Commission: It Should Reform Its Rules to Increase Transparency and Accountability, and Its Contracting Practices Do Not Align With Requirements or Best Practices (Release Date: September 2016)
Recommendation #14 To: Public Utilities Commission
The CPUC should ensure that it has accurate information about who is required to file statements of economic interests and then verify that all such persons file those statements when required.
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2018
The CPUC is reviewing all classifications which are required to file Form 700s forms and working with the FPPC to establish limitations in the existing classifications. CPUC does have a current list of classifications and tracks all filings by names and classifications to ensure all people required to file prepare and turn in to the filing officer a form 700 annually, upon hire and departure. In addition , the CPUC will be contracting with a vendor to file all of these electronically
- Completion Date: July 2018
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented
Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2017
The CPUC is reviewing all classifications which are required to file Form 700s forms and working with the FPPC to establish limitations in the existing classifications.
CPUC does have a current list of classifications and tracks all filings by names and classifications to ensure all people required to file prepare and turn in to the filing officer a form 700 annually, upon hire and departure.
- Estimated Completion Date: 12/31/2017
California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Partially Implemented
The CPUC repeats the response it provided to this recommendation in its one-year response. Accordingly, our assessment remains the same. The CPUC provided evidence that it has identified all persons who are required to file statements of economic interest. However, it did not provide us evidence that it has been tracking the submission of those statements to ensure that all relevant staff file them.
1-Year Agency Response
The CPUC is reviewing all classifications which are required to file Form 700s forms and working with the FPPC to establish limitations in the existing classifications.
CPUC does have a current list of classifications and tracks all filings by names and classifications to ensure all people required to file prepare and turn in to the filing officer a form 700 annually, upon hire and departure.
- Estimated Completion Date: 12/31/17
- Response Date: September 2017
California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Partially Implemented
The CPUC provided evidence that it has identified all persons that are required to file statements of economic interest. However, it did not provide us evidence that it has been tracking the submission of those statements to ensure that all relevant staff file them.
6-Month Agency Response
CPUC has built a database that tracks who is required to fill out a Form 700 and track the compliance of this requirement.
- Completion Date: January 2017
- Response Date: March 2017
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending
The CPUC established a new policy that its filing officer should compile a list of all employees who are required to submit a statement of economic interest. However, that policy does not address how the CPUC will address the concerns we discussed in our report, namely that the filing officer relied on information to identify required filers that was sometimes inaccurate. Further, the CPUC did not submit evidence that it created a database to track the individuals required to complete statements of economic interest.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
- Auditee did not address all aspects of the recommendation
60-Day Agency Response
The Filing Officer will be communicating with legal staff to ensure all staff required to fill out the Form 700's are listed in a database for tracking purposes. In addition, the Filing Officer will use this database to ensure all required filers turn their forms in timely. This includes sending updates to Directors and the Executive Director regarding those that are non-compliant.
- Estimated Completion Date: 1/01/2017
- Response Date: November 2016
California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending
All Recommendations in 2016-104
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.