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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02.03.21 FW_ SYASL COVID-19 Evening Update From:Ring, Brian To:Alpert, Bruce;Bennett, Robin;Clerk of the Board;Connelly, Bill;Cook, Holly;Cook, Robin;Kimmelshue, Tod; Lucero, Debra;Paulsen, Shaina;Pickett, Andy;Ring, Brian;Ritter, Tami;Rodas, Amalia;Sweeney, Kathleen; Teeter, Doug Cc:Pickett, Andy;Snyder, Ashley Subject:FW: SYASL COVID-19 Update Date:Wednesday, February 3, 2021 7:14:49 PM Attachments:SYASL COVID-19 Update 2.3.2021.pdf Good evening all – fyi. Brian Ring Assistant Chief Administrative Officer Administration 25 County Center Drive, Oroville, CA 95965 T: From: SYASL County Info <SYASLCountyInfo@SYASLpartners.com> Sent: Wednesday, February 3, 2021 4:03 PM To: SYASL County Info <SYASLCountyInfo@SYASLpartners.com> Subject: SYASL COVID-19 Update ATTENTION: This message originated from outside Butte County. Please exercise judgment before opening .. attachments, clicking on links, or replying. To: County Administrative Officers and Interested Parties From: Paul J. Yoder and Karen Lange Date: February 3, 2021 RE: SYASL COVID-19 Update Please find attached our daily SYASL COVID-19 update. -Paul and Karen COVID-19 Updates www.covid19.ca.gov February 3, 2021 Newsom Administration - Resources / Mutual Aid / Executive Orders Today, Governor Newsom announced a pilot project establishing two large scale community vaccination sites, one in Oakland and the other in Los Angeles. This pilot is in partnership with the Biden-Harris Administration. You may view a press release here, and SYASL staff notes here. Please visit covid19.ca.gov for the latest information and the California Department of Public Health website for the latest guidance documents. Vaccines NEW: CA is now projected to have $10.3 billion more than we projected in our #CABudget Kaiser has received 300,000 doses for 9.3 million enrollees, view here. Small Business Relief - Apply for Round 2 before February 8 The California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Program is accepting applications now through February 8. Grants range from $5,000 to $25,000. View here. EDD Today, the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and the Assembly Insurance Committee held an oversight hearing: Employment Development Department (Report No. 2020-128/628.1) & Federal COVID-19 Funding Unemployment Insurance (Report No. 2020-628.2). You may view hearing materials here, and SYASL staff notes here. Urban Counties of California Today, UCC sent a letter to Governor Newsom raising concerns regarding the vaccine rollout and the third-party administrator agreement with Blue Shield. View here. You may find SYASL staff notes from todays meeting here. Legislative / Budget News -19 page here for updates. The LAO has been releasing a series of reports regarding Federal actions affecting California related to developments around COVID- 19. View here. Governor Newsom update re: Vaccines, February 3, 2021 Mayor Lobby Schaaf I cannot tell you how lucky we are to have Gavin Newsom as our Governor, he is out hustling every day Oakland could not be prouder to host this effort GGN Alameda county stands out for their efforts Our efforts are amplified by President Biden This is one of the first pilot sites CA will also launch a site in LA at Cal State LA Maintaining an equitable lens Making sure communities that are often left behind are not overlooked This is a partnership with FEMA and OES We will be working to hire locals from the community, creating local jobs If you are interested in accessing this site, we are launching in a few weeks the Myturn app this will allow you to be notified when it is your turn and be scheduled to receive your vaccine Myturn will allow us more targeted throughput You can go to Myturn.com today to register Everything that should be up is up and everything that should be down is down as it relates to this virus-60k cases reported a month ago now at 10k cases Hospitalizations are down 29%, ICUs down 21% - but we are not out of the woods, we now have new variants We have done just sky of 12k sequence of genomics in CA, the State leads in this area We have 150 UK variants in CA reported, 960 west coast variants we are monitoring both Currently no South African variants to report but are monitoring We have to be cautious and continue to be mindful We see light at the end of the tunnel 6.1% is still not where we want to be We have tripled vaccines which is good, but not good enough, we are moving in the right 170k doses were reallocated yesterday to low-income communities On Feb 15 contract with Blue Shield and Kaiser will be made public Is all about making sure the equity lens is front and center and providers are held accountable, the good news is the federal government is doing the same We are limited on the basis of supply, this week we will receive 1,060,000 doses of the vaccine, this is encouraging We will be looking forward to the single-dose vaccines that will ultimately fast track the throughput On Feb 11 in the Biden Admin in partnership with pharmacies across the nation, will be allowing direct allocations to pharmacies for traditional administration of vaccines Senator Skinner Governor Newsom just gave some great data on the drop in cases and progress that has been made in CA I want to be very clear it is Governor Newsom that we can thank for that drop. Yes, public followed orders, but had the stay-at-home order not gone into effect, we would not have been able to make those improvements While we are all tired of this, we are doing the right thing in CA to bring numbers down, under the guidance of Governor Newsom What a relief that we now have a new Administration and some order to this vaccine roll out Every single state is frustrated Governor Newsom hustled to make sure Biden paid attention to CA so we could get what we need to get as many shots in arms as possible possible it will mutate and continue We need as many partnerships as possible We need as many mass vaccination sites as possible, we can get in impacted neighborhoods President of Alameda Board of Supervisors Thank you to Biden, Harris, FEMA and Governor Newsom We have worked with Governor Newsom from the beginning, since this pandemic hit last March, his administration has been on calls every week gathering the 58 counties and for that I want to say thank you It will take partnerships like this to make sure all can come together equally and get vaccinated GGN questions from the press (could not hear press) Want to recognize someone who is not here but has been instrumental and that is Bob Fenton and Mark Ghilarducci We have been told these allocations will allow us to get 6k doses administered per day and all PPE will be provided by federal government in an additive way and not take from what we are currently doing We built off a well-built system in CA and existing vaccine framework What we realized in the process was there was some opaqueness and some counties were so we began to tighten that up and develop a framework of partnership allowing counties to leadon equity but realized there was a level of sophistication that was needed to work through supply issued with the federal government and the unknowns, need to change the framework and onprofit than Blue Shield that is in the network management biz, they have a provider network of over 64k and their ability to do analytics, hold providers accountable, do payment processing and incentives is second to none. Every state is iterating in this process. We are hoping to build off of existing framework Press management and roll out of vaccines, what is your reaction? How do you rebuild confidence? GGN We are here today with this new site We are making progress We are in the top tier of large states if you look at data We are just getting started and numbers will continue to increase We are mindful we have to keep getting more supply We think Johnson & Johnson will be a game changer Press How do you respond that BS might be being favored due to its political support of you in the past? GGN That is nonsense, we have had a partnership with Blue Shield, and we looked at what was and mindset on distribution that we have, that is why the team recommended these partnerships and I concur Press What do y teaching without a vaccine? Where do negotiations stand with legislature on budget for reopening schools? GGN I want to reopen schools safely The plan out to the legislature has $6.6b in early action funding for schools to help with PPE, testing, ventilation, physical distancing etc. There are many schools open who have been able to do so safely, 87 reported cases in Jan which is down I subscri the proper framework The younger kids are not getting the benefits of distance learning that the older kids are, so many private schools are open and doing so safely Senator Skinner No one in their right mind wants covid We all want schools open We all want schools open safely; we are hammering out the details and I am confident we will all get there Press Your reaction to SF suing SFUSD saying it lacks a reopening plan? GGN We are putting out a statewide framework with an unprecedented amount of support We are providing above our minimum mandate under prop 98 Press Is the argument of a prerequisite of having all teachers vaccinated a nonstarter for you? GGN Not a nonstarter, we are prioritizing teachers We want to get our teachers vaccinated and they have been prioritized by this state We believe we can safely reopen schools as we follow a prioritization We are aligned with the thinking of the Biden Admin. Press Can you share any key lessons you have learned from where vaccines are going well? Long Beach? GGN LB has been a great partner to the state, we just had a call re what is working and what challenges they are having We are learning from counties, not just other states, from providers, partners We end the night on terms of what we learned from the day and apply it the next day Press Latest re youth sports? GGN Last week we announced a framework for certain youth sports to take place We have been in direct conversations and in constant contact to work through tiers A lot of this is driven by football and people wanting to get a season in and I appreciate that I recognize all the benefits, physical and mental for kids, parents and teachers A lot of the data we are using was provided by those who are suing us If I followed lawsuits, I would have folded a year ago I believe it is possible as long as case rates keep going down Press What factors are you weighing for AG? GGN I think there are 5 candidates for AG behind me (laughs from the background) I am very close to making that decision Our current AG is still the current AG and has not been formally confirmed by the US Senate our announcement will be in alignment with that confirmation JLAC & Asm Insurance re EDD February 3, 2021 I. Welcome and Opening Remarks Daly I'll keep my remarks brief, discuss findings and recommendations from auditor The EDD department was unprepared, historic levels of claims and a year later the department is still unprepared no secret our citizens are struggling, they are unable to address EDD challenges in an timely manner Generally local staffs in our district offices have hundreds and hundreds of stories of the challenges that exist We hear frequently get benefits out quickly or prevent fraud, why can't we have both Laird I was briefed on both pieces of this audit, on performance of the EDD this report is damning Unemployment insurances is a lifeline, difference between eating and starving Hearing real stories, one woman with PHD is living in her car, another is desperate to keep roof over toddlers and her head Another constituent who owned nearly 12K and another is trying to pay back to EDD These are the last line of defense for people facing homelessness and hunger May things to fix, particularly around fraud Those making about current administration, audit done 10 years ago, it has spanned the administrations of three governors and both parties, it is up to us to fix now Salas Discuss audit reports released last week, you and I requested audit work at beginning of September We had concerns at that time, 6 months after the pandemic, at the time the extent of the fraud was beginning to come to light We want EDD to be successful and we want to believe they have turned a corner The audit reports identified many issues and many deficiencies Conclusions were disturbing, could have been minimized if there had been advanced planning, EDD was unprepared for recession left people for weeks or months They should understand recessions are cyclical They were $10.4 billion in fraudulent claims Released figures from EDD, additional $19.5 billion in fraudulent payments I believe Californians are frustrated and they want a system that works for them, hope this hearing will address how to fix this and move forward II. Overview of Audit Findings and Recommendations Elaine M. Howle, CPA, California State Auditor Thank you so much for inviting us to present on the audit reports we released last week I'll step through key findings and focus on legislative recommendations Three documents, document A ties to first report issued last Tuesday on process, like claims and inquiries through call center and EDD problems doing those things My office did report in 2011 and ability to process claims and we identified significant issues then Subsequent to the recession, and EDD had surge in unemployment claims and struggled to deal with that, pandemic surged even more As Mister Salas indicated EDD was not prepared, they should have instituted changes we recommended, also Federal Government put them in high risk category Clearly, they continue to struggle, and the issues were exacerbated Recommendation we have is EDD needs to have a recession plan, once we are past this you have to plan for those situations Key issue area in first report We also focused on the call center, the call center struggled, and the pandemic exacerbated poor performance from the past, they were only able to handle 15-16% of the calls We found same situation from last audit to this audit The performance improved but not enough to serve Californians as well Trainings took a long time, they tried to streamline down to 9 months, that is still significant amount of time Second issue area, call center continued to struggle, they are not measure first call resolution, this is industry practice Struggling to process claims, lots of EDD system is manual process, 50% ending up in this manual process With use of IDME, the ability to process increased, but they also suspended certain requirements typical in unemployment program That allowed them to process claims, but they still struggled The last issue related to decisions to speed up claims, balance between trying to prevent fraud and getting payments out to claimants They decided to suspend certain eligibility requirements The first issue related to eligibility and now they have determined based on US Department of Labor letting EDD know that they cant suspend eligibility requirements and go back and redetermine, there are about 12 million claims, tied to around a million individuals and some may have to recoup benefits Under traditional insurance, they have to certify every two weeks, they submit certifications, that was also suspended for about 8-week period US Department of Labor said you can't do that and resubmit In 8-week period, 1.7 million claimants were affected, so now EDD has to go back requiring individuals go back and submit certifications, so they have to go back and do the work Generated significant amount of workload Four key areas in report Now I will go onto attachment B, report we issued on Thursday focused on fraud protection and decisions EDD made opening the state to fraudulent payments and potential for fraud The first EDD slow to react or prepared to prevent and detect fraud in UI program, particularly in money coming US Department of Labor warned all states that fraud will be significant issue and use all tools you have to prevent fraud in the system Unfortunately About 4 months in stopping payment on suspicious claims, about 6 months in they started raising issues or clamp down on claims that went out to multiple addresses It took them 6 months to try to put more controls into this When we conducted audit report, we followed up with some addresses, we found as far in as early December, 2-3 addresses continued to receive payment, unfortunately $300K was paid out to one particular address Two high profile situation we addressed o Communication coordination with Bank of America and freezing accounts, lots of back and forth those accounts and how many were actual claimants communication with Bank of America o Cross matching with data related to incarcerated individuals, about 35 states do this, my understanding California had not been doing with information where labor obtained access from EDD and identified thousands of claims $810 million paid out on individual to person incarcerated, EDD has contract to access information I know they have agreement with CDCR to get info on people, there needs to be longer term solutions Last area, EDD overall efforts to prevent and detect fraud, EDD is large program and with respect to UI program we wanted to look at how they detect fraud, it is disjointed Not coordinated EDD needs to come up with overall structure to who would be responsible to ensure fraud detection occurring They have never really assessed effectiveness of tools they use to identify fraud If other tools not as effective to impact legitimate payments and determine whether to continue to use that tool and we need to continue to do analysis there We are willing to get into more detail and the packets we provided you illustrate issues I will talk about recommendations, variety we have made to EDD Legislative recommendations, require EDD to develop recession plan, lessons learned We need a plan in place when there is a surge how do we deal with this and contingency plan to react We suggest once the legislature gets that in statute, they complete in first 12 months At minimum every three years lets refresh plan and make sure we consider everything we need to consider We are asking EDD to report on its website, some claimants may have to pay back because they were overpaid, we want EDD to list on website how much they overpaid and how much they recoup from people I know EDD can waive if someone struggles to pay back, they have 2-year window but is another manual process EDD put together working group of people involved in process to identify lessons learned and get report done by January 2022, they have lots to do and there are many recommendations for EDD to come up with solutions Another recommendation is to cross matching incarcerated individuals, we ask legislature to require cross matching to Requiring EDD in annual report to the legislature about fraud but we want EDD to explain in the report the tools the analysis of those tools, which ones they will continue to use or not We also want EDD to report annually on the cross matching, claims identified As far as fraud, ask legislature by January of 2022, and every two years after report We also have included in recommendation to give update to the legislature in July of 2021 Recommendations to EDD, we have recommendations related to claims processing, many includes timelines, working with Bank of America releasing accounts and getting money to claimants Answer any questions, and turn it back to you Salas Based off work you have done what was EDD reason for not having comprehensive plan in place? Howle My understanding is EDD was working on recession plan, they waited a long time they were beginning to work on recession plan, then pandemic hit, and they put it on the shelf fics from EDD, lots of back and forth At hearing last fall, former director saying BofA was doing at their own discretion which was not particularly true Bob Harris, Audit Principal Offer a few other thoughts, related to lack of plan EDD shared with us between end of great recession, they have worked on initiatives to processes of claims, but they mad e certain changes that is short of comprehensive recession plan to scaling up operation Well short of planning for recession operations With Bank of America, offer that referring to the disjointed approach to preventing fraud, we saw no clear link to communicating with Bank of America Salas Ask additional question to suspending eligibility requirements? Harris EDD at direction of secretary, suspended eligibility to expedite payments to Californians Intention to pay people more quickly, but left them more vulnerable to fraud Salas You found they recognized the eligibility requirements would open themselves up, but they accepted that risk? Harris There is nothing clear to say that, it was to suspend requirements to make payments faster Salas On call centers, we allocated resources, hired staff members, we see only marginal improvements, did EDD give reason to why that was or anything you saw that could improve things at call center? Harris Point to lack of preparedness, When new staff onboarded, training program slimmed down version was 9 months long, that means you cant assist in more expeditious fashion Second problem, they onboarded fair number of people that they got quick training and training was to resolve minor issues and not necessarily to help with claims Salas So even after infusion, how much did the needle move? Harris In March to April timeline, it was like 1%, in later stages of pandemic, there is upward tick we relate to number of calls answered and having people available to answer phones EDD staff as many as they have, then that is the primary constrain, Call percentage rates go up, but also effected by how many people are calling, fewer and fewer unique callers calling the call center Wood Obviously, lots of fraud and moving forward, there have been people caught up in trying to correct the fraud Have someone who stopped receiving payments because she is in jail, she is not in jail, does she need affidavit to get payments reinstated While we have done and make efforts to cut fraud, we are catching people up in these claims who need, did EDD figure out how to get payments to those people? Harris In EDD plans for people caught up, we know several people I would refer to EDD on how for someone to get assistance This is the type of impact that happens if you are not regularly assessing fraud prevention tools If they had done analysis going into pandemic, would have been able to fine tune and plan ahead to help people caught up Becker This is incomprehensible, but for someone who ran technology company, this starts with customer service You report $810 million went to incarcerated, other $9.6 billion went to unconfirmed individuals, how much do you actually believe was fraudulent? Harris That is an assessment EDD will need to do That is because EDD considers itself unidentified person is potential fraud How much is not known to us because Becker You said they stopped 1.6 million, how come you went through many of the other ones? Harris Indicated EDD had manual process for applying stop payment to stop potentially fraudulent claims Between EDD detected certain claims to time staff could apply stop payments, payments could go out Another is billion dollars were paid out by deliberate decision to stop using fraud safeguard Early on, EDD management trying to streamline processes and unfortunately, they misunderstood value of fraud safeguard They thought additional safeguards would stop payments going out to claims, and they were wrong about that They paid $1 billion of $10.4 billion to individuals who they could not validated The bulk $1 billion direct result to stop applying safeguards Becker But other $8 billion could have gone to legitimate claimants? Harris That is correct Becker A billion in unimaginable, its been reported as all of fraud though is that correct? Harris It went to claims from which EDD cannot confirm claimants, but in the report is reported as potentially fraudulent Becker In customer service point, constituents had payments frozen, you said not using best practices for call center, what can be done right now other than bodies to help call center? Harris They will find more people to answer more calls of course, In most immediate they can staff, but also important they understand why people are calling to streamline calls Howle In addition to call center folks for a call back Also having prerecorded information, caller can listen to and hopefully resolve particular question We recommend they do prerecorded messages, they lost this with virtual 30% of calls were had to refer to someone more experienced, this is frustrating and EDD people, we have immediate recommendations and other recommendations to implement by March of this year Grayson The fraud, was fraud more prevalent with payment method over another, like card or check? What impact would there be to be going direct deposit and addressing fraud? You referenced 2011 report and recommendations, in the audit this time were the considerations on the recommendations in 2011 and were they were implemented? Harris potential fraud On direct deposit, some other states engage in this, we are aware with one bill introduced, but we make no audit finding about moving in that direction Call center recommendations are similar to the last report, in spirit in the last audit report EDD needs to adhere to best practices We saw looking they were not following through with continually following through on our recommendations Oversight we will follow up on these recommendations, about 90 days for their response and we can make available to you and to what progress or not EDD is making Howle I want to add, we made several recommendations to the legislature, we believe many things need to be in statute They had made improvements to claims processing and call center after we issued 2011 report, we did follow up in 2012 When hit one-year mark things were looking good, they were implementing efforts, when in 2012, some things had slipped back and not consistent improvement and follow through We would like to see some things put into statute We have evolved as agency and as far 2011, we did in this report and listed in first pages and the things the auditor expects EDD to do Kamlager For record want to say that I think one week or so ago the Assembly Public Safety had CDCR and Fraud coming out of the prisons, they stated many individuals were victims of theft The report recommendations focus a lot on individuals, can you speak to non-profits caught up in this? Many have been fraudulent, number of nonprofits in finical peril and they are seeing insurance premiums going up? Have you looked at this population, or any recommendations to address these challenges? Howle accessing benefits With respect to Incarcerated individuals is a good point, many victims of identity theft Our focus was EDD to cross match against individuals, if they determine if someone incarcerated and victim is another issue they need to deal with as well When we looked at complaints, there was over 70K claims, normally there is around 6K like in 2019 We point out some individuals may not even be aware that their identity was stolen, identity theft affects many individuals across the state Likely their identity was chosen to accept fraudulent payments, but EDD needs to have ability to investigate and determine which are fraudulent and protect these situations Gipson Regarding, was it EDD who directed BofA to place hold, or was it Ba k of America putting hold on suspicious accounts Howle We think it was mixture of both, lots of back and forth Harris Looking at all bank accounts, some were frozen by BofA on their own initiative and some were The ones done Bank of America approached EDD as potentially fraudulent, they completed review and they asked BofA to freeze some and added additional ones In total totals to 344K, largest set of freeing that occurred, other smaller incidents Gipson back to the state of California or is the interest gone? Harris Gipson Have EDD department implemented, or what percentage have they already implemented to date? Harris them Gipson That is upsetting, they should be Johnny on the spot and people wont be disenfranchised Story about man named Mr. Joh getting any help from the entity that should be supported People are pissed off and so are we, there is no excuse Petrie-Norris This is a number one issue and crises our constituents are facing, thank you for this thorough and horrifying report We here report of fraud that could top up to $27 billion claims were paid without processing verification Is internal investigation required? Harris We make no recommendation for internal recommendation Point to the slow way EDD reacted to fraud risk at the beginning of pandemic Wave of safeguard, when EDD did not have confirmed identity Payments made when EDD would or not confirm identity We have indicated major reasons why that amount of benefit payments to potentially fraudulent claims Petrie-Norris Lack of common sense and not nefarious Harris We attribute to not understanding its IT system, Cooper multiple administrations failures Howle Absolutely some of the recommendations to put some requirements in statute Also annual report for EDD has to do to the federal government on payments claims, they do that We look at that as part of federal compliance work, we do, lots of states struggle to do that Recession planning and strike team recommendations and assigning staff and priorities EDD needs to come up with what are our workload issues, risk assessment and how to assign staff to deal with all of this Many people out there in California who need help We need to do in providing oversight is monitoring what EDD is doing to assess risk on the 12 million issues tied to millions of people Same with call center, and work remotely, they lost functionality that would benefit folks EDD needs to come up with staffing and workload assessment We can also ask for mor updates, when we hear back, we can partner with the legislature so Kiley Its interesting to see hand ringing in the EDD, as if they are new, this is an arm of the state implementing policies passed by this legislature If agency consistently not following best practices Folks in management are not competent, and maybe there are capable people but there are systemic practices that stand in there way? Which is it? Howle recommendations, leads us to your first option which is management Management h EDD like a lot of large agencies, huge bureaucracy to get tone from the top not changing Some things they did this year, like IDME, that was a huge change, huge process to implement from a manual process I think is certainly a need at highest level and make clear to folks at the line level that this is what we expect, and we need to hear from you to providing resources and training They are competent over there and they understand the crisis, but they also understand this is imbedded in old bureaucracy and processes Need to do better jobs on staffing Kiley Following up on entrenched Bring in 25-20 best people at EDD, would there still be things that would stand in there way Howle EDD is huge agency, pandemic was unprecedented Clearly lessons earned from last recession, some examples in our report to shut off safeguard, they should have done assessment From my perspective and talking with the audit team, conversations happening Some new folks brought in, but it I think they should be held accountable and we will be steadfast Kiley We see across agencies, not just EDD to attract the best and brightest Looking at recommendations, some to the legislature blur line between policy and management, we may be better served to determine who actually lead these agencies Leyva Thank you, your ideas very direct Question goes back to last recession, my understanding that in January of 2020 they were transitioning to better system then they had tot stop, could they go back to the streamlined system? Harris If you are referring t the systems, they did put on pause after recommending from strike team EDD needs to look at benefit monitoring modernization project and they need to see what they can remove from larger project to provide most immediate benefits We recommend they do that analysis Cooley This raises up issue of oversight, probably rise this into the future I want to point out focusing at EDD, look at government code 13400 and following, the state leadership accountability act, seen lots of activity in the past 10 years Under prior governor there was movement to modify that I think that this is fundamental to raise bar for state agencies SB 617, this was bipartisan, and I think we want to look like that Daly Mention of confidential letter, can you give us hint of what topic that involves? Howle There is variety of issues we I shared same letter with legislative leadership and vice chair and chair of audit committee We feel we identified things that may expose the state to potentially more fraudulent situations We limited that sharing with leadership was important and the chair and vice chair of audit committee and it is the discretion of those individuals III. Comments and Perspective from Impacted Parties Eduardo Martinez, Legislative Director, California Labor F Given charge to advocate all workers appreciate the ways to strengthen department Hope to catalyze system change to better serve Californians The report showed millions went without basic aid, due to failure to implement fraud system, many claims frozen and billions in fraudulent payments Believe legislature should meet staffing methods Unless structural forces funded, when times are good EDD receives less funding, recessions allow for staffing adjustments, COVID Beyond needing to invest in new systems, we believe they can invest in relationships they are already associate with Through webinars, our staff able to assist workers access benefits Ask adminsitration to convene stakeholder meetings Please consult with EDD workforce We need to address infrastructure, but would not do anything due to UI system would be plagued by gross benefit inadequacy and UI insolvency 113 states provide dependent payments Suppose our states UI systems we can see what is possible, Washington state reduces taxes on employers and expands employers accessing benefits State UI system falling short for decades Robert Moutrie, Policy Advocate, California Chamber of Commerce This is unacceptable situation; I recount all the things there First question of context of how much fraud fund, California employers pay for the health of the fund They acknowledge 5% of known fraud is attributed to state UI fund, auditors report acknowledges more fraud not identified EDD flagged additional 17% of benefits potentially paid out could be fraudulent Somewhere between 10-30 billion depending on 17% Assuming 5% is attributable, $500 million to $1.5 billion to the state UI fund The state employers will be paying that back The next question is what happens in recovering that, this will be difficult to recover this fraud from claimants and tracking it down Given recovery effort are limited, what happens next, the auditors report deals with this well, and California consumers, tax benefits or unable to claim in the future The point I want to make is that the same things applies to California employers will have tax implications for twenty years or so, they should bear no punishment die to the fraud Looking forward highlight recommendations to cleaning this up, recommendations 5 and 6, establishing centralized tracking to review fraud and analysis on which tools are effective Limited timeline for EDD to seek to recover to get fraudulent payments, we request anything could be done to aid recovery efforts should be done Salas Interested in what safeguards you think should be implemented in the UI program listed in the report? Martinez Hesitate to offer specific recommendations, key to potential for systems improvement Look at this as legislative jumping off point bring our people in early to talk about Moutrie One of the biggest issues halting suspension of eligibility validations statements IV. Update and Response from the Employment Development Department Rita Saenz, Director I want to say obviously what we have heard today is very sobering We take all these recommendations seriously I am the new Director of EDD Focus on backlog, call center and fraud prevention efforts We have blueprint to move ahead, we have EDD executives with me here After panel we are happy to answer any questions I want to share background and vision going forward d private system background in call centers and It Fourth agency I have served as director Three priorities Getting claimants paid, preventing fraud and restructuring fraud to be flexible in customer service capabilities EDD claims soared to 1300% over, we processed as many claims in first 8 weeks in all of 2010 We have seen fraud run rampant, IDME estimates that 35% of all claims are fraudulent nationwide We need to address delayed workload; we will continue to benefit getting benefits to Californians and keeping out of the hands of criminals We are making changes to services and customers These are fixable problems of business practices and technology One area was the unemployment insurance backlog, release of strike team, creation of two reports, initial claims and continued claims reports California State Auditor made changes to backlog dashboards to better capture pending claimant action 91% of 900K claims reflected on dashboard, waiting for claimant certification and potential overpayment Both of these require claimant action We will continue outreach to claimants to complete eligibility that is required before paying payments every two weeks compensation signed into law in December Consolidating into one dashboard to identify unique claims The call center, audit lays out many issues with this We are taking action, including EDD branch to manage all call center recommendations and improve call center Tools not available to people to get assistance they need By October 2021 we will have more self-service options to call service, and the identification of better training for staff By May 2021, establish policy to track first resolution data We will develop processes to collect first call resolution data We are trying to reestablish call back feature We are hiring more staff, have to be under complex rules, this tool provides articles and sections to searchable database Allows newer staff to use keyword searches to relevant information for caller with single question Receiving 3-4 million calls a week, we will review changes and attempting to obtain industry best practices Improvements must improve swiftly and get customers answers after single attempt Fraud prevention area, made efforts here, between March 2020-Janaury, processed 19.5 million claims At height of great recession California processed 8 million claims for perspective EDD did have fraud prevention measures, but they were insufficient we have identified 10% of benefits totals to $11 billion paid to fraudulent payments, 95% associate with pandemic assistance program We are investigating another 1.4 million claims that may be fraudulent Now the department has systems in place to stop fraud and will impact volume of claims submitted Also prevented up to $60 billion in potential payments due to existing protection measures that you may not hear much of Between October and December, thwarted hundreds of thousands fraudulent claims Much more to do, trying to keep out of the hands of criminals and into the hands of people who need it I want to thank the California State Auditor through the process, appreciative to the works at the department for their dedicated work Daly I heard you intend to fully comply with schedule of fixes requested by the state Auditor, good to know you intend to comply with the schedule laid out I know my staff dealt with over 700 constituent issues, multiple that by 80 Assembly districts, that is tens of thousands Good to know you are moving in line with recommendations Glazer I share in the comments and emotions expressed by my colleagues I appreciate you stepping into this difficult place and I know your background and appreciate you have been willing to help in this important time I recognize you are new to the job Want to ask; is there anything we can do int eh legislature to help you do your work better? Any limitations or statutes to assist you do your work? Saenz Mistakes have been made and they have to I want to finish with the strike team and the audito view of what can be done after If I need assistance you can count that I will come to the legislature What was said about it not just being technology and business practices, something is underlying there needs to be a drive for modernization Should something come up I will certainly come and ask Glazer I appreciate the willingness to make improvements and getting clear timelines on progress so we can be kept informed Salas I appreciate what you said accepting audit recommendations but also trying to reform claims Looking to engage the legislature and enacting reform, many have introduced proposals to get this done I want to ask about the workload and whether EDD is prepared to move forward? What is the plan and timeframe to tackle impending workload? Saenz I was surprised by the amount of work that requires manual interaction; this is something we will be looking at How the number of people in EDD fluctuates, one thing I understand is that you cant expect innovation and modernization if staff comes and goes We will be looking at that in the coming months Salas Saenz I speculate on things that Salas How do you anticipate moving to system of automatic from manual? Saenz Combination of paper processes and the amount of work that came in I have looked at revision on business processes, solicitations of reliable vendors and I can tell you something EDD has considered before on vendors itfalls, something I will take into consideration, it is not an easy left, but it can be done Salas issues. Would be more comfortable with plan in place as opposed to Saenz From the strike team report, there is a number of solutions and timelines, I will use that as a blueprint to make sure we add and revise and restructure what we do There is a plan, we are going to make things happen Most important thing is customer service, I initiated critical issues group for call center Salas Why did it take so long for qualified individuals to get their benefits? Carol Williams, Chief Deputy Director, Operations st The reason it has taken so long, we had completely manual process prior to October 1 That lead to 1.6 million backlog and they went all the way back to April 2020 Priority to get those paid Automation is the big lift and big opportunity for all of our processes Claim filings when clean are very fast, we have lots of work from the past Addressing determinations from last spring we have task force looking at that, but we have to free up staff to do that Salas On average what is the average wait time for claimant? Williams We have 14-21-day window to make first payment As of the end of December we are making first payment at 76% of the time at 21-day mark, that is up from 40% of the time We need to get to 80% and higher We are going in the right direction Salas On the fraud, can you tell us how much of that fraud, how much attributed to UI vs PUI program? Nancy Farias, Chief Deputy Director, External Affairs, Legislation, and Policy Off the 11 billion we identified, 95% is PUA and the remaining 5% is UI system Its about $500 million for UI and the rest is PUA Salas Suspending eligibility requirements, what is being done to safeguard taxpayer dollars in the system Saenz ere, I understand in the process of processing these claims, our system began to slow down, pushing a system that begins to slow down the system could crash Farias From what I have seen over the past few months, I cant find one that was good faith attempt to pay people who were desperate to help That is underlying comment I would make having not been here Salas I understand the urge and upticks but my understanding the EDD removed some safeguards The federal government communicated with your department to reimplement those safeguards, can you explain that interaction and the fix? Saenz The safeguards are in now Farias As mentioned, safeguards we have now and stopping fraud at the front door is what we have We have a taskforce to investigate fraud and we have stopped fraud I think Saenz I will add, recommendations made in 2010 and not implementing completely, we have large drop of people who we have to go back and check on identity This team is committed to making sure that no one is asking those same questions ten years from now Salas I believe we will eagerly wait for your update and hope to count on you to be partners There is still a lot of questions and having an overall plan to address these issues, many members come back to is we are not getting any indication on how we are Saenz We are using strike team recommendations and the recommendations from the auditor The issue you mentioned that is critical element of how the department should anticipate what happens, its difficult to scale up at the turn of a dime We will be prepared next time Berman Two major goals competing with each other, preventing fraud and paying people There has been tradeoff between these two At end of last year, effort to limit fraud, leaving people on brink of homelessness without benefits Your job is to pay legitimate claims EDD has been failing at Want to focus on 1.4 million claims EDD suspended in December do to suspicion of fraud This was cruel blow, the vague language created unnecessary fear and anxiety wondering if they were under investigation Two weeks after they were given ten days to verify ID.ME, this was a disaster No way my staff could help with the ID.Me process, I cant express st Tell you about Roger put through this, suspended claim on December 31, told to await further instructions, he spent 12-14 hours a day to wait in queue Suspended claims in between Christmas and New Years with no heads up and you had no plan to get claims back on track quickly Who approved that plan? Roger is no living in his car with his son Why did EDD suspend the claims before finalizing plan to get claims back online? Saenz Those claims stopped based on markers from fraud filters I can tell you we have renewed commitment to work with the legislature to let people know in advance of this happening This will never happen again One of the largest groups who became unemployed are Latinas and are often people hwo are barely paid Want everyone to understand that the stress and the pain is not lost on me Berman Our constituents are struggling so much and so are our staffs who pour hearts and souls into this work The impact this has on our teams, but really, we need to think through the decisions we make and anticipate the challenge and stress those things will have Saenz The first thing I said to my executive staff was that we are sure of what we are doing, our claimants are paid, and we think about what could go wrong Berman How is it appropriate that constituents given 10 days to verify in system not prepared for the vol Saenz The 10 day was extended to 30 days, as we saw people struggling, we extended Williams We certainly need to improve communication, in this nucleus of a situation, it was due to address fraud We had data analysis of fraud on hand, point in time and undertaking whole fraud effort to ensure decisions are tighter than before was The reason there is ti idea that they are fraudulent Berman Williams That is part of workload, so let us go back and then come back Our turn around is 10-13 days after clearing IDME Boerner-Horvath This is correcting what should be corrected before I get very concerned about the first call resolution, often our constituents get directed to us. Please can you identify why EDD employees cant resolve issues on first contact? Why sending back to legislative offices? Saenz On the blueprint, being in the tech world, standard practice, give lessons learned and identify root cause of problems, need to get into root causes to get to the blueprint The blueprint for the future is for business processes Williams Staff should never refer back to any of you, we received some communication and we have addressed Modernization of contact center, key foundation is call monitoring of contact center Basic tools missing at our call centers Training is part of good call monitoring, one thing we have done is the advanced training, it is 13 weeks Strike team recommended to stop trainings and now that we are moving through that the training and hiring is happening Boerner-Horvath statement that you have mounting backlog What are you doing right now to serve on first call resolutions? What EDD surges do you expect in 6-12 months? Williams One of the biggest efficiencies was processing of claims automatically, we cant do that if we have to do it manually Prior to IDME, we were at 40% manual, now we are processing at 89-90% automatic This frees up staff to deal with claimants on the most difficult calls We are making outbound calls, texting Our fear is there is communication gap and need to return and recertify Outbound communications, emails and texts and information on UI online account, YouTube to demystify the claim experience When we bring on new programs, we have to be most available to people, new programs and continue to have these peaks we have suffered in terms of service We are now centralized to review and understand and accountability for these issues Farias I think now that we have IDME that sees 35% of attempted applicants and stops them, we also have Thomson-Reuters stopping people at the door on fraud Now we can reallocate these people to paying legitimate claimants which I think will make huge difference Patterson Id like to focus on the collateral damage, direct result of what the auditor found I join colleagues here saying there are real people The bureaucratic impediments have been thoroughly laid out in this audit Want you to hear voices from people On the debit cards, some were the lifeline, they were frozen Resulting that I have received phone calls in the district standing at cash register at grocery store having their card denied Look back as sort of a kickback scheme We have constituents say the fees charged on their debit card they are paying for, there si fee sharing contract, splits in some degree between BofA and EDD People forced to pay for their own unemployment benefits, want to know what the justification for this? And the split between BofA and EDD? Farias I know what you are articulating but need to get back to you Saenz We are not actually paying Bank of America; this is how they get paid Patterson Is extraction of fees would be going to these individuals? Farias Patterson Saenz My understanding the legislature has copy of the contract Patterson You let down guardrails, opened for fraud and identity theft, I have received countless calls from people terrified I understand a phone number stood up to address issues I have long list of members in my community who can not get through the phone number EDD you must correct this, you need to zero out these tax forms and ask people to go through a them to demonstrate hardship When will information be posted Farias I believe it is up on the website now, there is drop down for 1099 question, I believe it was last week or so Patterson Is that clear on the webpage? Williams We are starting with what is most pressing, last week pushed out information about tax information From tax perspective, due to nationwide crisis being requested and filing as appropriate they ll catch up Patterson How do you intend to catch up? Williams The fastest way will be through online Allow us to determine the claimant from the fraudster Its not perfect, people receiving them, and we have to work with the people to clear of reporting Patterson The claw back, how many people and how much, something like 2.4 million Says there will be three million hours to clear this up Does EDD intend to make people who followed rules send them back a check or money? Kevin Matulich, Deputy Director, Legislative Affairs We will have to address on case by case basis This is a situation for someone who was incarcerated who received funds, we will recollect those For essential worker collecting benefits on week they worked, we will work with them in hardship provisions Patterson Auditors graphic on this for typical individual eligible for benefits, individual worked part time and notified EDD and the result was that EDD determined they were a fault and now they have to claim hardship Why do people who followed the rules deemed overpaid? Why do they have to claim hardship when you did it to you? Matulich As pertains to getting funds back from folks who may have been provided benefits during auto- certification efforts, we understand the burden working through a waiver request when they have ability to pay that back Need to look at on individual basis to collecting funds back and provide avenue for people having hardship Patterson It sounds like you are dodging around my point have responsibility for the activity? Saenz People can be pissed for the issues, but we are not going to lower the guardrails again after them, no but you all insisted on this and we need to get people what they need Patterson This has been frustrating period of time for people in Central California You will be hearing from us Carrillo Several questions were also asked in budget sub 4 I have question regarding leadership at EDD, how many deputy directors has the department had in the last five years? Saenz I think we have lost 3 during 2020 Carrillo Four deputy directors in the last five years? Saenz Yes, the amount of UI directors is current Carrillo Who is the current UI director? Saenz It is vacant, we have three people experienced Carrillo how long was person in the position Williams They were in the position for three months Carrillo Its inconsistent, not having consistent leadership is incredible challenge Now with the Secretary of Labor leaving and joining the Feds, who will be responsible to take accountability for the current situation Saenz I am the person responsible and I am the person who will be accountable Carrillo I want to make it clear to the people that the inconsistency at EDD has lead us to the problems When will new EDD system be up? Saenz Not in the near future, standing up new system requires UI and IT be taken away from current responsibilities and review technological advances that have been made to current processes You really need to pull people out of what they are doing New system is new platform, but yes, we are adding modules to the current system and those are updates Carrillo We are trying to catch up to information, we need to get on the same page, frustrated about systems and systems not working We came to agreement last week that with any updates there would be letting us know o When can we expect direct communication to our offices? Saenz Already through meetings we are having, my understanding is that lots of this is going to your staff Matulich post Its our intention of course to share any releases with the legislature Carrillo The expectation is that the legislature will receive updates to new systems or improvements to the systems would be great Becker Of $10.4 billion, said it may or may not be fraud, when will we know Farias We confirmed that is fraud, we consider that claimants have not confirmed identity Becker Possible its not but right now is clarified as fraud Allowed massive fraud and denied benefits to millions of Californians We new 35 states cross match, will commit to look at best practices across different states? Saenz Absolutely Becker What are the biggest changes EDD can do to get back to residents and us? Saenz Calling people rather than them calling us Providing more self-service, We have 3000 people answering 3-4 million calls a week, have to look for other options for people to self-serve Clarity on communication and make sure the website is simple to use and messages are clear ored Williams We are calling people now; we are having outgoing calls to claimants when is stuck or pending actions on the claimants Also able to abstract if they want to abandon claim Voepel I would like to say I agree with my colleagues and the same frustrations and my constituents have suffered the same disaster This crisis will pass, but in the future, we will have more crises and will have surges of claims Explore resources you may not have thought off, I spent 39 years in the insurance sector Maybe use insurance industry as backup, they handle hundreds of millions of claims These companies have cutting edge IT, massive call centers and highly trained dedicated people Maybe do a pilot program and cross train and have potential reserve to help you out Salas On claimants who have done everything right, hearing certain cases where people may be asked to give money back Can you explain the plan to deal with those cases? Williams We have established a taskforce, with equity and good conscious Under two categories in act, f payment made without fault of claimant, or financial ability of person, we are standing to understand additional provisions to provide waivers Salas When notifying individuals, will they be informed of the waiver process? Williams If overpayment sent yes it would be included in notification Salas Are we doing same type of process for tax form, do we have process at EDD for people who are mistakenly receiving additional fund they never received? Saenz Yes, we have the same process, we will educate them Salas The sooner you can get to people the sooner Look forward to seeing you implement that in timely fashion V. Public Comment No public comment Daly We and the timeframe will be accomplished, the commitment on public record is valuable Adjourn Dear valued employer, This past weekend, Kaiser Permanente's Chairman and CEO Greg A. Adams sent a communication to all Kaiser Permanente members in California addressing the current vaccine supply. The member letter below, demonstrates our commitment at the highest level to both providing the most clear and helpful information that we can to our members your employees and our organization's capacity to scale and meet the moment. The letter details the complexity of our environment and how Kaiser Permanente is poised to serve your employees with the great care and experiences that they expect. We'll continue to update you as more information becomes available and you can always find the latest information at kp.org/covidvaccine. Together, we'll continue to keep your workforce and our communities healthy and strong. Sincerely, Kaiser Permanente Small Business California Subject: A message from CEO Greg A. Adams It's been nearly a year since we started the battle against COVID-19, and in that time all our lives have been changed and far too many have dealt with great personal loss. After months of physical distancing and caring for one another's health and safety, news of the vaccine rollout offers great hope and new challenges. Our next challenge is vaccine supply The recent Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization of 2 vaccines, and the anticipated authorization of several more vaccines in the coming weeks, are important steps toward the end of the pandemic. The unfortunate reality is that the number of vaccine doses being produced and distributed is currently not enough to meet the need and it will be several months before vaccine supply in the U.S. approaches what is required. At Kaiser Permanente, we care for more than 9.3 million Californians and we've received only a fraction of the vaccine needed to vaccinate our health care workers and our members. At the time of this writing, we've received approximately 300,000 doses across the state and we're acting quickly to vaccinate those who are eligible as soon as we receive the vaccine. The shortage of vaccine doses and the uncertainty about the timing of vaccine availability worries everyone. The state of California must allocate the limited COVID-19 vaccine supply it receives from the federal government to 58 California counties and 9 multi-county entities, including Kaiser Permanente. We're currently like the state, are not permitted to purchase more vaccines directly from the manufacturer. We look forward to the day when there is enough vaccine for all our members and communities. We've received inquiries about our preparation and have heard your concerns about the limited number of available vaccine appointments. Please know that Kaiser Permanente has the capacity and is prepared to administer more than 200,000 vaccines per week in California our only limitation is the availability of and access to the vaccine. We understand the frustration and inconvenience this has caused for you and we'll continue to do all we can to increase the supply of vaccines, working in partnership with state and federal governments. To ensure the vaccines we do receive are distributed appropriately, we're following the direction of California health officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state recently announced expanded vaccine prioritization guidelines to include everyone age 65 and older increasing eligibility by nearly 6 million process of vaccinating front-line health care workers, residents of long-term care facilities, and those over the age of 75. Within the age band, our priority has been to vaccinate those at highest risk of exposure or complications due to COVID-19. We're committed to vaccinating those over the age of 65 as soon as needed supply becomes available. And as supply increases, we'll continue to expand priority groups to include additional age bands, risk factors, and occupations as directed by the state. In the meantime, we'll continue providing vaccines we receive at each of our medical office buildings. We believe there will be an increase in supply in the coming weeks, and in anticipation of more vaccine, we're prepared to open additional locations and use mobile clinics. We're also working in partnership with state and local government agencies and other health care providers and businesses to open high- volume COVID-19 vaccination hubs across the state. Staying connected as vaccine supply increases The road to the COVID-19 vaccine has been long and challenging, and we'll continue to do whatever it takes to keep our members and communities safe and healthy. We'll continue to provide updates as we make progress. Please visit kp.org/covidvaccine or call our recorded vaccine message hotline at 1-855-550-0951 for the latest information. Please continue to protect yourself and your loved ones wear a mask, wash your hands, and physically distance. Your health remains our top priority tomorrow, and always. Sincerely, Greg A. Adams Chairman and CEO UCC Notes 2.3.21 Vaccines: Letter from County family re: third party administrator for vaccine distribution. CSAC had hosted an emergency executive committee agreement. County folks upset that they had not been advised about the third party administrator. Will send out a UCC specific letter. Strong concerns about the third party agreement and how it is going to all work. Hope to get that letter sent out today. Will share with county family. Put the Administration on notice that they need to talk to us about the vaccine distribution plan. During Ghaly press conf yesterday several reporters asked about Blue Shield agreement but Ghaly did not answer and deferred to Yolanda Richardson. Announcement today re: partnering with Biden Administration to open two large vaccination sites in Oakland and in Los Angeles. Agreement with chain pharmacies-will go to 20 largest chains but not to independent pharmacies. Where do the vaccines for the LA and Oakland sites come from? Do they come from county allotment? Would statutory changes needed re: data sharing as part of the agreement with Blue Shield. Other health plans are concerned about the agreement and about Blue Shield controlling the data. Rental assistance: today is when counties have to indicate their initial interest to accept state financial assistance dollars. Sounds like a lot of counties are thinking that they will do a better job with running their own programs. Anyone aware of their county opting-in. No one expressed knowledge that their county would be opting in. AB 339 (Lee): open meetings. UCC reached out to express concerns. DJJ TBL was posted Friday night. Technical trailer bill. Dispositional track language. Very important to the advocates. Advocates have the ear of the Asm Budget subommittee. Language is on DOF website. Hertzberg and Skinner have introduced new bail reform measures. Zero bail for misdemeanors. Take a look at that if you have counties that are interested in that issue. Does anyone know when Wilk is going to be taking over as Senate Rep Leader? No. DHCS released most of their TBL last night, including trailer bill for CalAIM. TBL excludes telehealth via phone only. Assembly going to be making a big push around Medi-Cal asset test. Potentially expensive so not sure how the negotiation will go with the Administration. Appears to be a priority for Ting and the Assembly. TBL re: SB 1 local streets and roads MOE. Have been working with CalSTA and CTC on that language. Eliminates MOE requirements for the 2019-20 fiscal year. May not apply to all counites. AG: Pelosi, Feinstein and Rendon have called Gov to speak in favor of Schiff. Do not be surprised if Umberg is picked. Says he can deliver OC if there is a recall. Schiff is a lightning rod. ult ones. Supervisor Susan Ellenberg, Chair Santa Clara County Supervisor Ernest “Buddy” Mendes, Vice-Chair FresnoCounty February 3, 2021 The Honorable Gavin Newsom Governor, State of California State Capitol Sacramento, CA 95814 RE: Vaccine Rollout and Role of Third-Party Administrator Dear Governor Newsom: On behalf of the Urban Counties of California (UCC), we write to respectfully raise serious concerns regarding the recently announced decision to enter into a third-party agreement with Blue Shield to assist the state with vaccine administration and distribution. While California’s urban counties have expended considerable resources to ramp up vaccine distribution in our communities, we question the value and appropriateness of the contracted role of Blue Shield at this juncture of the planning and distribution process. We are particularly concerned about how this new operational complexity will impact our own local efforts, possibly further impede near- term vaccine supply, and disrupt distribution systems we have designed and are now implementing in our communities. As you are undoubtedly aware, California’s urban counties serve more than 80 percent of the population. We submitted detailed plans to the state four weeks ago, have made significant investments to stand up these plans, and are expending human and fiscal resources to facilitate the vaccination of tens of thousands of Californians. We know our goals are the same, and counties are prepared to do more. However, without a clear understanding of our role and relationship to Blue Shield and the State of California, our job becomes that much more difficult. With little concrete detail about how these new relationships are to be structured and how the recently announced availability of additional federal resources are to be applied, we are extremely concerned about the potential for downstream changes that may require rethinking and retooling of local resource deployment. Our chief concern is to ensure that we have sufficient vaccines to cover appointments at our large-scale vaccination sites, many of which will begin to administer second doses this week. Further, we seek clarity as to the role of our existing partnerships, many of which were sought out to help address at-risk underserved populations that we know are critical to meeting the state’s equity goals. The Voice of Urban Counties Alameda Contra Costa Fresno Los Angeles Orange Riverside Sacramento San Bernardino San Diego San Francisco San Joaquin San Mateo Santa Clara Ventura Vaccine Rollout and Role of Third-Party Administrator February 3, 2021 | Page 2 We are significantly challenged by the lack of accurate data at the state level. Our hope is that whatever contract is entered into will help facilitate strong, consistent statewide data that allows for us all to see what is happening with vaccine distribution throughout our communitiesand to know where high-risk communities are or are not being served. To that end, it is important to keep in mind that some providers may not provide the high-volume, high-speed distribution of vaccines the state or its third-party administrator may desire but are able to serve vulnerable populations that do not have other access points to the health care system. Finally, we all know that vaccine supply is a significant challenge across the country. It is vital that the state provide a consistent message to the public regarding supply, as the lack of a clear narrative has created tremendous challenges at the local level. At this moment, no aspect of urban counties’ work is more important than an equitable, safe, and fast distribution of vaccine in our communities. We respectfully seek collaboration and communication regarding this important change in our COVID response before moving ahead with a third-party agreement. Sincerely, Susan Ellenberg Ernest “Buddy” Mendes Chair, Urban Counties of California Vice-Chair, Urban Counties of California Supervisor, County of Santa Clara Supervisor, County of Fresno cc: Ana Matosantos, Cabinet Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly, Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Yolanda Richardson, Government Operations Agency Secretary Keely Bosler, Director of Finance