Aug
20
2021
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Today, legislative Democrats postponed an important Joint Legislative Audit Committee hearing scheduled for next Tuesday, August 24 that would have further delved into Governor Newsom’s failed Employment Development Department (EDD). They already delayed the hearing one week and now have no new date set, despite Legislative Session concluding on September 10.
The EDD has a timeline of failures that date as far back as 2013 and led to the disaster Californians witnessed in 2020. Senate Republicans believe the EDD’s failures speak for themselves and the governor’s mismanaged unemployment agency cannot continue to operate under status quo.
“Democrats refuse to discuss EDD because they know Newsom’s mismanagement is a textbook example of a government failure,” said Senate Republican Leader Scott Wilk. “Last year, it was tweet after tweet with frustration, but now it’s delay, delay, delay. Meanwhile, Californians still desperately need help. This hearing was a crucial step in reforming an agency that needs to get its act together. I guess by avoiding this hearing, Democrats must be OK with this failed status quo.”
Earlier this year, Senate Republicans introduced legislation to #FixEDD, including:
· SB 39 (Grove) would require the EDD to cross check prison inmate records with unemployment claims to prevent benefits from going to prisoners.
· SB 58 (Wilk) would require the EDD to immediately end the practice of including full social security numbers on its most frequently mailed documents.
· SB 232 (Nielsen) would implement the State Auditor’s full recommendations from the previous three audits of EDD.