Senator Alex Padilla held a recent legislative hearing on the unspent funds. The Democrat says if agencies can't spend the money from Washington before a deadline next year, lawmakers should find another use for it. He says the state told the federal government it needed the cash - and to leave it unused looks bad, especially now:
Padilla: "While everybody in Congress, particularly our Republican counterparts, are looking for every nickel and dime that could be cut, we should not be in the business of giving them low-hanging fruit to cut or sweep back."
The State Auditor found both the Department of Community
Services and Development and the California Energy Commission were
on track to leave millions unspent. Both departments say
they're working to ramp things up in order to use that money.
