California Code of Regulations › Title 2 - Administration › Division 10 - California State Auditor's Office › Chapter 5 - Alternative Whistleblower System › Subchapter 2 - Independent Investigator › Section 61317 - Standards and Procedures

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
(a) Upon
				  receiving a submission, the DOJ shall review it to determine whether, based on an
				  independent, nonpartisan, and objective analysis of the information provided by the
				  complainant, the submission constitutes a good faith allegation of an improper
				  governmental activity. If the DOJ reasonably concludes that the submission contains
				  sufficient factual information to warrant further investigation, the DOJ shall
				  contract with an independent investigator to determine whether the employee or
				  employees who are the subject of the submission engaged or participated in an
				  improper governmental activity.
(b)
(1) As required by Chapter 6.5 (commencing with
				  section 8543) of Division 1 of Title 2 of the
				  Government Code, in order to ensure the State Auditor's statutory independence,
				  uphold the integrity of the audit and investigative process, prevent interference
				  with ongoing audits and investigations, enable the State Auditor's Office to conduct
				  its work in accordance with applicable audit and investigative standards, and make
				  certain that no person is subject to criminal charges as a result of conducting an
				  investigation or cooperating with the independent investigator, the independent
				  investigator shall not commence any investigation of a submission relating to a
				  pending audit, assessment, or investigation, and shall hold his or her investigation
				  in abeyance until the pending audit, assessment, or investigation is complete. In
				  addition, any time the Pending Matters Liaison notifies the independent investigator
				  that an ongoing investigation relates to a pending audit, assessment, or
				  investigation, the independent investigator shall cease his or her work on the
				  ongoing investigation and shall hold the ongoing investigation in abeyance until the
				  pending audit, assessment, or investigation is complete. Upon completion of the
				  pending audit, assessment, or investigation, as indicated by a published report or
				  closure of the matter, the independent investigator may commence or continue the
				  applicable investigation.
(2) For
				  purposes of this section, "relating to a pending audit, assessment, or
				  investigation" includes, but is not limited to, an allegation arising out of, or
				  substantively connected to, a particular audit, high risk assessment, or
				  investigation, its assigned staff, objectives, scoping, field work, findings,
				  recommendations, deliberative process, report writing or processing, and the
				  application and interpretation of the audit standards applied during the State
				  Auditor's Office's auditing, assessing, or investigating process.
(3) Notwithstanding paragraph (2) of subdivision
				  (b) of this section, to the extent that the submission alleges and the independent
				  investigator determines that there is reasonable cause to believe that an employee
				  is engaged in ongoing criminal activity or fraud, subject to the limitations in
				  Government Code section
				  8547.5,
				  subdivision (b), the independent investigator may refer the allegation to the
				  appropriate criminal or administrative law enforcement agency in lieu of conducting
				  an investigation of the matter.
(4)
				  Prior to commencing an investigation, the independent investigator shall contact the
				  Pending Matters Liaison and provide the Pending Matters Liaison with the name of
				  each employee who is the subject of the investigation and only enough information
				  regarding the submission for the Pending Matters Liaison to determine whether the
				  submission relates to a pending audit, assessment, or investigation. Any time the
				  Pending Matters Liaison determines that a submission or an ongoing investigation
				  relates to a pending audit, assessment, or investigation, the Pending Matters
				  Liaison shall immediately notify the independent investigator and place a litigation
				  hold on the pending audit, assessment, or investigation that will continue at least
				  until such time as the independent investigator completes his or her investigation.
				  The Pending Matters Liaison shall immediately inform the independent investigator
				  when the pending audit, assessment, or investigation, as indicated by a published
				  report or closure of the matter, is completed. The Pending Matters Liaison shall not
				  disclose the particulars of any communication with the independent investigator to
				  the State Auditor except to communicate the imposition and duration of any
				  applicable litigation hold.