Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Calls for Investigation of County Office of AIDS Programs and Policy

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday called for an investigation into the operations of the county Office of AIDS Programs and Policy, the Long Beach Press-Telegram reports. The supervisors asked for a report within 30 days on allegations of conflict of interest, misspent public funds and "an unfair distribution" of federal HIV/AIDS funds throughout the county (Rester, Long Beach Press-Telegram, 8/21). Supervisors called for the investigation after an audit by the county Auditor Controller's Office found that the county AIDS office could not account for the expenditure of more than $80 million in state and federal HIV/AIDS funds last year. The audit, requested by the supervisors, found that the office accounted for allocations for each of the county's eight districts but could not account for the expenditure of the funds. Officials with the county Department of Health Services, which administers the county AIDS office, allocated more funds than required to half of the districts, and three districts did not receive adequate funds, the audit found (California Healthline, 8/20). In addition to the investigation, supervisors plan to open a 90-day public comment period to allow county residents to voice their concerns about the office and offer proposals to improve the allocation of HIV/AIDS funds (Long Beach Press-Telegram, 8/21).