SECTIONS 35400-35401 - California Statutes

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.