SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Employment Development Department (EDD) said, of the $177 billion it has paid in unemployment claims, about $20 billion of that was fraudulent.
After months of waiting and several postponements, the legislature held a joint session to get an update on the EDD's progress.
The State Auditor’s Office said EDD has met about 62% of its recommendations, but still needs a lot more work on making those ideas a reality.
"When one of our government agencies fails this badly, I believe that it breaks the public’s trust," said Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris.
In addition to the $20 billion in fraudulent claims, there's a 26-week waiting period for interviews to resolve freezes and roughly 120,000 backlogged claims.
“I don’t think people have captured in their mind the enormity of the amount of money that has been issued errantly to undeserving people," said Assemblymember Tom Lackey. "This wasted money could have purchased 16,789 California homes.”
The State Auditor’s Office ran through the list of the recommendations they’ve already made, which included the creation of a fraud unit.
The EDD created the recommended fraud unit, but it is still working on hiring staffers. The department believes they will have a staffed unit by the end of November.
“How are we going to make sure that they follow through and actually implement the changes to make sure this is the last time we are dealing with this fiasco?” Assemblymember Petrie-Norris asked the state auditor.
“The State Auditor does not have enforcement authority," said State Auditor Elaine Howle. "We can’t force the administration to do certain things, but certainly, we can partner with the legislature to provide strong oversight to give you the information you need to determine whether or not we need to put this in statute.”
Howle then recommended withholding funding from the EDD if they don’t follow statutes.
EDD Director Rita Saenz said every state experiences issues with its unemployment system.
“We have all had difficulty with this,” Saenz said.
But she added that the EDD will reach 100% of the auditor’s recommendations and deadlines.
“Are we satisfied? No, we are not, but we will continue to make changes until things are complete,” Saenz said.
Saenz said the backlog will be complete in a year. She also said the average wait time has gone down to 18 minutes over the phone, but the system continues to be overwhelmed with robocalls and repeat calls.
WATCH ALSO:
