Bill Giving Subpoena Power to District Auditor Is Signed

Gov. Gray Davis signed legislation Tuesday night empowering the top auditor for the Los Angeles schools to compel testimony and disclosure of documents during investigations.

The law, written by state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles), gives the Los Angeles Unified School District an office of inspector general in all but name and could play a factor in the investigation of the environmentally plagued Belmont Learning Complex.

It grants the subpoena power for a year to the director of internal audits and special investigations.

Don Mullinax, who heads that office, said Wednesday that the lack of subpoena power has hampered his investigation into who is responsible for the district’s failure to conduct adequate environmental assessment before starting construction of the $200-million high school west of downtown.

“I would say that we do feel there have been certain individuals or entities that have not fully cooperated,” Mullinax said.

Although it is too late to subpoena anyone before the scheduled Sept. 14 release of the Belmont report, Mullinax said he would issue a second report later if more information comes out.

Hayden proposed two years ago that the district establish an inspector general to prevent waste and fraud in the spending of $2.4 billion in school construction bonds approved by the voters in April 1997.

A motion introduced by Board of Education member David Tokofsky never came up for a vote, however, as others on the board balked.

Instead, the board augmented the district’s troubled audit branch with an investigative role and in January hired Mullinax, a former Defense Department investigator, to head it.

Persisting in his desire to have a full-fledged cop within the district, Hayden introduced legislation. It won overwhelming approval in the Legislature.

“For a $7-billion bureaucracy like LAUSD, it is crucial that there be an effective internal watchdog to protect tax dollars and public confidence,” Hayden said.