California: Nepotism scandal embroils recently gutted state tax board

CPR: SACRAMENTO – The California Board of Equalization was stripped of most of its powers over the summer, after a series of audits and news reports exposed myriad spending, accounting and management problems. But the renamed, and greatly diminished, tax agency continues to be the source of state audits and troubling scandal.

The latest comes in a special investigation report published last week by the State Personnel Board, an agency charged with enforcing California’s civil-service-related statutes. The report, prompted by anonymous complaints about the BOE’s hiring practices, found that the agency “has a large number of employees who have personal relationships with other BOE employees and work in the same department or division.”

The findings could lead to the dismissal of three state employees. It also poses deep challenges for the agency and its successors. Approximately 90 percent of the BOE’s 4,767 employees will continue doing their existing jobs under the auspices of a new Department of Tax and Fee Administration, which handles tax collections, and a new Office of Administrative Hearings, which will adjudicate tax disputes between businesses and the state.

The State Personnel Board’s survey found that 835 of these employees – comprising 17.5 percent of the former BOE’s work force – have “personal relationships” with other staff members. The board defined such relationships as “associations with individuals by blood, adoption, marriage, registered domestic partnerships or cohabitation.” The survey, the personnel board cautioned, did not capture the entire workforce, so that percentage could be higher or lower.  read more