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Supervisors place portions of Independent Investigations Bureau funding on reserve pending controller review
Summary
The committee accepted a motion to release six months of the District Attorney—s Independent Investigations Bureau funding and place the remainder on reserve while the controller conducts a workload and spending review; DA Gascon warned against funding conditioned on guaranteed prosecutions.
District Attorney Gascon told the Budget & Finance Committee that the Independent Investigations Bureau (IIB) began operating in January 2017, will be fully staffed in August 2018, and currently has 37 cases on its docket (21 closed, 16 open). Gascon emphasized independence and transparency and said his office will not accept funding with conditions that guarantee prosecutions.
Supervisors raised concerns about unit performance, pace, and oversight. Supervisor Fewer proposed placing the second half of the unit—s fiscal-year funding on reserve pending a controller audit; after debate the committee approved a compromise to release six months— funding and reserve the remainder (approx. $1.35M placed on reserve equal to half of the unit—s $2.7M budget), with the controller asked to complete a spending and workload analysis by September.
Gascon warned that conditioning funding in ways that demand prosecutions would imperil the unit—s work and that his office would not accept money that compromises prosecutorial discretion. Committee members said the controller—s audit is a standard fiscal oversight step designed to clarify workload and prior spending rather than to influence prosecutorial decisions.
Next steps: Controller to conduct scope review of prior spending and unit workload and report back to committee by September; committee to reconsider reserved funds following that review.
