35400-35401
EDUCATION CODE
SECTION 35400-35401
35400. (a) The Los Angeles Unified School District's Inspector General of the Office of the Inspector General is authorized to conduct audits and investigations. The inspector general may subpoena witnesses, administer oaths or affirmations, take testimony, and compel the production of all information, documents, reports, answers, records, accounts, papers, and other data and documentary evidence deemed material and relevant and that reasonably relate to the inquiry or investigation undertaken by the inspector general when he or she has a reasonable suspicion that a law, regulation, rule, or district policy has been violated or is being violated. For purposes of this section, "reasonable suspicion" means that the circumstances known or apparent to the inspector general include specific and articulable facts causing him or her to suspect that a material violation of law, regulation, rule, or district policy has occurred or is occurring, and that the facts would cause a reasonable officer in a like position to suspect that a material violation of a law, regulation, rule, or district bulletin has occurred or is occurring. (b) Subpoenas shall be served in the manner provided by law for service of summons. Any subpoena issued pursuant to this section may be subject to challenge pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 1985) of Title 3 of Part 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure. (c) For purposes of this section, Sections 11184, 11185, 11186, 11187, 11188, 11189, 11190, and 11191 of the Government Code shall apply to the subpoenaing of witnesses and documents, reports, answers, records, accounts, papers, and other data and documentary evidence as if the investigation was being conducted by a state department head, except that the applicable court for resolving motions to compel or motions to quash shall be the Superior Court for the County of Los Angeles. (d) Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, any person who, after the administration of an oath or affirmation pursuant to this section, states or affirms as true any material matter that he or she knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed six months or by a fine not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment for the first offense. Any subsequent violation shall be punishable by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year or by a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment. (e) The inspector general shall submit an interim report to the Legislature by July 1, 2000, annual interim reports by July 1 of each succeeding year, and a final cumulative report by December 1, 2014, on all of the following: (1) The use and effectiveness of the subpoena power authorized by this section in the successful completion of the inspector general's duties. (2) Any use of the subpoena power in which the issued subpoena was quashed, including the basis for the court's order. (3) Any referral to the local district attorney or the Attorney General where the district attorney or Attorney General declined to investigate the matter further or declined to prosecute. (f) This article shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2015, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2015, deletes or extends that date. 35401. (a) If the inspector general determines that there is reasonable cause to believe that an employee or outside agency has engaged in any illegal activity, he or she shall report the nature and details of the activity on a timely basis to the local district attorney or the Attorney General. (b) The inspector general does not have any enforcement power. (c) Every investigation, including, but not limited to, all investigative files and work-product, shall be kept confidential, except that the inspector general may issue any report of an investigation that has been substantiated, keeping confidential the identity of the individual or individuals involved, or release any findings resulting from an investigation conducted pursuant to this article that is deemed necessary to serve the interests of the district. (d) This section does not limit any authority conferred upon the Attorney General or any other department or agency of government to investigate any matter. (e) Except as authorized in this section, or if called upon to testify in any court or proceeding at law, any disclosure of information by the inspector general or that office that was acquired pursuant to a subpoena of the private books, documents, or papers of the person subpoenaed, is punishable as a misdemeanor.