Frazier Bill Would Create Independent Transportation Oversight Office

SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Jim Frazier (D-Discovery Bay) has introduced AB 380, a bill to create the Independent Office of the Transportation Inspector General, which would be an autonomous entity in state government with oversight over all transportation spending in state government.

“Mismanagement at the Department of Motor Vehicles, cost overruns and poor contract management at the High-Speed Rail Authority, and the final cost of the Bay Bridge are examples of why we need truly independent oversight over the tens of billions of dollars the state spends each year on transportation,” said Frazier, who chairs the Assembly Transportation Committee.

California’s landmark transportation funding bill, SB 1, passed in 2017, created the Independent Office of Audits and Investigations, and the position of Inspector General, within the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). The office and position are tasked with overseeing over Caltrans spending, but they are also supervised by Caltrans.

Frazier’s bill, AB 380, would eliminate the Independent Office of Audits and Investigations within Caltrans and in its place create the Independent Office of Transportation Inspector General as an independent office that would not be a subdivision of any other government entity. Its oversight responsibilities would expand beyond Caltrans to include all transportation spending by any entity of state government.

“It’s long past time that California had truly independent oversight over transportation spending,” Frazier added. “California taxpayers are tired of reading about appalling waste and mismanagement at transportation agencies and on major infrastructure projects with no accountability.”

Assemblymember Frazier represents the 11^th Assembly District, which includes the communities of Antioch, Bethel Island, Birds Landing, Brentwood, Byron, Collinsville, Discovery Bay, Fairfield, Isleton, Knightsen, Locke, Oakley, Pittsburg (partial), Rio Vista, Suisun City, Travis AFB, Vacaville and Walnut Grove.