“During the past two years, we have seen the unaccountable and frankly out-of-control Newsom Administration paying out billions of dollars in secretive no-bid contracts under the guise of curbing the impact of an ongoing global pandemic,” Wilk said in a news release. “Sub-par contracting decisions in critical areas such as COVID-19 test processing has led to massive waste, left the state vulnerable to fraud, and worse, has hamstrung our ability to effectively slow the spread of COVID-19.”
According to Wilk, Senate Constitutional Amendment 7 will increase oversight by requiring no-bid contracts of $25 million or more entered on or after Jan. 1, 2023, to be subject to the oversight hearing of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee prior to a renewal or extension of the contracts. This would ensure that no-bid contracts are not simply auto-renewed without the opportunity for public input.
Wilk said Senate Bill 947 will ensure accountability by empowering employees of no-bid contracts to report fraud, waste, abuse, and improper activity, free from fear of retaliation by granting them the whistleblower protections already afforded to formal employees of the state.
“The Newsom Administration’s practice of renewing no-bid contracts without reviewing their merits is not only a waste of taxpayer money, but also a way to skirt the spirit of California’s contracting process,” Wilk said. “Californians would not be aware of the Valencia lab fiasco had brave whistleblowers not risked their livelihoods to expose the glaring deficiencies. They should be offered the same protections as other state workers who call attention to grievous problems at a state agency.”
SCA 7 and SB 947 will next be referred to Senate policy committees for consideration. Constituents can track their respective progress here and here.
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