SACRAMENTO, CA – In 2024, Senator John Laird (D – Santa Cruz), Vice Chair of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, requested an audit by the California State Auditor on the effectiveness of the California Office of AIDS (OA) in coordinating state programs, services, and activities related to HIV/AIDS. The request followed troubling news that three former OA employees had plead guilty to federal charges involving misconduct.

“In this era of scarce resources, it is important that the state's efforts in HIV/AIDS education, prevention, and treatment are spent wisely,” said Senator Laird. “The Office of AIDS has already begun implementing internal reforms to prevent the kind of misconduct that occurred in the past – this audit helps build on that important work.”

Last week, the California State Auditor completed their rigorous audit and offered clear, actionable recommendations aimed at improving oversight, accountability, and efficiency in the administration of OA grants and programs. This audit ensures that taxpayer dollars are protected and used to support the critical programs and services that Californians rely on.

“I want to thank the Auditor’s office for their diligence in conducting a thorough review and for providing valuable recommendations,” stated Laird. “These are sound recommendations and I will continue to monitor the implementation to make sure the state’s efforts on HIV/AIDS are best protected.”

Senator Laird has a long history in HIV/AIDS advocacy. In the early 1990’s, he was executive director of an AIDS service agency that was a grantee of the Office of AIDS.

Key recommendations from the audit included:

• To reduce the likelihood that the OA experiences further fraud and to ensure that it pays contractors only for appropriate and supported subcontractor expenses, the OA should establish a policy by December 2025 to require that contractors submit documentation that verifies the cost of the work performed by their subcontractors.

• To ensure that its contractors are using their allocations efficiently, the OA should establish guidance for its programs by December 2025 that requires them to develop procedures for evaluating their contractors’ use of funds and to document their conclusions about whether those funds are being used efficiently. The OA should require its programs to establish their procedures by March 2026.

• To ensure the effectiveness and accountability of its programs, when creating or implementing new programs like the Housing Plus Project, the OA should establish a policy by March 2026 that requires program staff to establish for the new program oversight processes that ensure that program recipients follow its key program guidance.

To read the full audit, click here

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Senator John Laird represents the 17th Senate District, which includes all of Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Monterey counties, and a majority of San Luis Obispo County. More information on Senator Laird can be found here.