10520-10536

GOVERNMENT CODE
SECTION 10520-10536




10520.  The Auditor General shall only conduct audits and
investigative audits approved by the Joint Legislative Audit
Committee. Any provision of law directing the Auditor General to
conduct an audit or investigative audit shall be deemed a request to
the Joint Legislative Audit Committee to direct the Auditor General
to undertake that audit or investigative audit. Once an audit or
investigative audit is approved, the Auditor General shall complete
the audit or investigative audit in a timely manner and in accordance
with the "Standards for Audit of Governmental Organizations,
Programs, Activities, and Functions" issued by the Comptroller
General of the United States. Immediately upon completion of an
audit, the Auditor General shall transmit a copy of the audit report
to each member of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee.



10521.  The Auditor General, prior to his or her selection, shall
possess a combination of education and experience which in the
opinion of the Legislature is necessary to perform the duties of his
or her office.


10522.  The Auditor General shall be paid the salary fixed by the
Joint Legislative Audit Committee and shall be repaid all actual
expenses incurred or paid by him or her in the discharge of his or
her duties.


10523.  The Auditor General may employ and fix the compensation, in
accordance with Section (4) of Article VII of the Constitution, of
such professional assistants and clerical and other employees as he
or she deems necessary for the effective conduct of the work under
his or her charge. The Auditor General and his or her employees are
legislative employees for purposes of Sections 20364, 11032, 11033,
11041, and 18990, and for purposes of the "Standards for Audit of
Governmental Organizations, Programs, Activities, and Functions"
issued by the Comptroller General of the United States.



10524.  The permanent office of the Auditor General shall be in
Sacramento, where he or she shall be provided with suitable and
sufficient offices. When in his or her judgment the conduct of his or
her work requires, he or she may maintain offices at other places in
the state.



10525.  The Auditor General shall not destroy any papers or
memoranda used to support a completed audit sooner than three years
after the audit report is released to the public. All books, papers,
records, and correspondence of the Auditor General's office
pertaining to its work are legislative records subject to Article 3.5
(commencing with Section 9070) of Chapter 1.5 of Part 1 and shall be
filed at any of the regularly maintained offices of the Auditor
General, except that none of the following items shall be released to
the public by the Auditor General or his or her employees:
   (a) Personal papers and correspondence of any person receiving
assistance from the Auditor General when that person has requested in
writing that his or her papers and correspondence be kept private
and confidential. Those papers and correspondence shall become
legislative records upon the order of the Auditor General or the
Legislature or if the written request is withdrawn.
   (b) Papers, correspondence, or memoranda pertaining to any audit
or investigation not completed, when in the judgment of the Auditor
General, disclosure of those papers, correspondence, or memoranda
will impede the audit or investigation.
   (c) Papers, correspondence, or memoranda pertaining to any audit
or investigation which has been completed, which papers,
correspondence, or memoranda are not used in support of any report
resulting from the audit or investigation.
   The amendment of this section made at the 1981-82 Regular Session
of the Legislature does not constitute a change in, but is
declaratory of, the existing law.



10526.  It is a misdemeanor for the Auditor General or any employee
or former employee of the office to divulge or make known in any
manner not expressly permitted by law to any person not employed by
the Office of the Auditor General, any particulars of any record,
document, or information the disclosure of which is restricted by law
from release to the public. This prohibition is also applicable to
any person or business entity which is contracting with or has
contracted with the Auditor General and to the employees and former
employees of that person or business entity or the employees of any
state agency or public entity which has assisted the Auditor General
in the course of any audit or investigative audit or which has been
furnished a draft copy of any report for comment or review.




10527.  (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Auditor
General during regular business hours shall have access to, and
authority to examine and reproduce, any and all books, accounts,
reports, vouchers, correspondence files, and other records, bank
accounts, and money or other property, of any agency of the state,
whether created by the Constitution or otherwise, and any public
entity, including any city, county, and special district which
receives state funds, and it shall be the duty of any officer or
employee of any agency or entity, having those records or property in
his or her possession or under his or her control, to permit access
to, and examination and reproduction thereof, upon the request of the
Auditor General or his or her authorized representative.
   (b) For the purposes of access to and examination and reproduction
of the records and property described in subdivision (a), an
authorized representative of the Auditor General is an employee or
officer of the agency or public entity involved and is subject to any
limitations on release of the information as may apply to an
employee or officer of the agency or public entity. For the purpose
of conducting any audit or investigation, the Auditor General or his
or her authorized representative shall have access to the records and
property of any public or private entity or person subject to review
or regulation by the agency or public entity being audited or
investigated to the same extent that employees or officers of that
agency or public entity have access. No provision of law providing
for confidentiality of any records or property shall prevent
disclosure pursuant to subdivision (a), unless the provision
specifically refers to and precludes access and examination and
reproduction pursuant to subdivision (a). This subdivision does not
apply to records compiled pursuant to Chapter 1 (commencing with
Section 10200).
   (c) Any officer or person who fails or refuses to permit access
and examination and reproduction, as required by this section, is
guilty of a misdemeanor.



10527.1.  Where any specific statute bars the access of the Auditor
General or the Joint Legislative Audit Committee to any record, the
Joint Legislative Audit Committee, by approval of a majority of the
members of the committee, may authorize that the Auditor General and
the Joint Legislative Audit Committee be granted access, with the
right to examine and reproduce, to the records if that access is for
the purpose of an audit authorized by the committee to the extent
permitted by federal law. That authorization shall include safeguards
to prohibit disclosure of any information which identifies by name
or address any public social service recipient, or any other record
which is protected by law.


10527.2.  The Auditor General shall not have access to arrest
records of the Department of Justice without the specific
authorization of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and the
Attorney General. It is the intent of this section that the Attorney
General comply with such a request if it is clear that the
information is an essential element of an approved audit and the
information will not be used for commercial or political purposes.



10527.3.  It shall be a misdemeanor for the Auditor General or any
employee of the Auditor General, a member of the Joint Legislative
Audit Committee or any employee of the committee to release any
information received pursuant to Section 10850 of the Welfare and
Institutions Code or Section 10527.1 or 10527.2 of this code, that is
otherwise prohibited by law to be disclosed.



10527.4.  Nothing in Section 10527.1, 10527.2 or 10527.3, nor any
other provision of law shall limit the authority of the Joint
Legislative Audit Committee to subpoena records under the authority
granted to the committee by the Constitution and the Joint Rules of
the Senate and Assembly.



10528.  The Auditor General shall make special audits and
investigations, including performance audits, of any state agency
whether created by the California Constitution or otherwise, and any
public entity, including any city, county, and special district which
receives state funds, as requested by the Legislature or any
committee of the Legislature.



10533.  The Auditor General, in connection with any audit or
investigation conducted pursuant to this chapter, shall be deemed to
be a department head for the purposes of Section 11189.



10535.  (a) In connection with any audit or investigative audit
approved pursuant to Section 10520, the Auditor General, or his or
her designee, may do any of the following:
   (1) Administer oaths.
   (2) Certify to all official acts.
   (3) Issue subpoenas for the attendance of witnesses and the
production of papers, books, accounts, or documents, or for the
making of oral or written sworn statements, in any investigative
interview conducted as part of an audit or investigative audit.
   (b) Any subpoena issued under this section extends as process to
all parts of the state and may be served by any person authorized to
serve process of courts of record or by any person designated for
that purpose by the Auditor General or his or her designee. The
person serving this process may receive compensation as is allowed by
the Auditor General or his or her designee, not to exceed the fees
prescribed by law for similar service.



10536.  (a) The superior court in the county in which any
investigative interview is held under the direction of the Auditor
General or his or her designee has jurisdiction to compel the
attendance of witnesses, the making of oral or written sworn
statements and the production of papers, books, accounts, and
documents, as required by any subpoena issued by the Auditor General
or his or her designee.
   (b) If any witness refuses to attend or testify or produce any
papers required by the subpoena, the Auditor General or his or her
designee may petition the superior court in the county in which the
hearing is pending for an order compelling the person to attend and
answer questions under penalty of perjury or produce the papers
required by the subpoena before the person named in the subpoena. The
petition shall set forth that:
   (1) Due notice of the time and place of attendance of the person
or the production of the papers has been given.
   (2) The person has been subpoenaed in the manner prescribed in
Section 10535.
   (3) The person has failed and refused to attend or produce the
papers required by subpoena before the Auditor General or his or her
designee as named in the subpoena, or has refused to answer questions
propounded to him or her in the course of the investigative
interview under penalty of perjury.
   (c) Upon the filing of the petition, the court shall enter an
order directing the person to appear before the court at a specified
time and place and then and there show cause why he or she has not
attended, answered questions under penalty of perjury, or produced
the papers as required. A copy of the order shall be served upon him
or her. If it appears to the court that the subpoena was regularly
issued by the Auditor General or his or her designee, the court shall
enter an order that the person appear before the person named in the
subpoena at the time and place fixed in the order and answer
questions under penalty of perjury or produce the required papers.
Upon failure to obey the order, the person shall be dealt with as for
contempt of court.