Amid yet another budget crisis in Sacramento, Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, D-South Gate, said that he plans to investigate state agencies that have failed to collect millions of dollars.
De La Torre chairs the state the Assembly Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review, which is tasked with finding savings and efficiencies in state government.
The state announced over the weekend that it is facing another shortfall, this time to the tune of $8 billion.
De La Torre's committee is looking for uncollected fines and other revenue sources that could bolster the ailing general fund.
Despite all of the scrounging in the state's metaphorical couch cushions this year and last, there appears to be plenty of money missing from coffers.
State Controller John Chiang's recent audits uncovered at least $80 million in lost taxes because three state agencies failed to collect in full money owed to the state.
But collecting the fines in the current economy could prove challenging.
Audits found that the California Highway Patrol failed to collect at least $9.6 million in delinquent drunk-driving citations; the Public Utilities Commission, $20.6 million in fines against companies that defrauded consumers; and the Department of Industrial Relations, $54 million in fines against businesses that reportedly mistreated workers.
"Taxpayers are frustrated with this type of inefficiency from state government, especially when consumers take the first step to complain when businesses violate the law," De La Torre said in a statement. "State government's failure to collect financial penalties from those bad actors is adding insult to injury."
Chiang forwarded his agency's finding to the Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review Committee for review and possible oversight hearings.
