A 2019 third-party report in the wake of a fraud scandal at the California Office of AIDS found that there was a "lack of checks and balances" as well as a lack of "direction, leadership, oversight and mentorship," and gave recommendations as to how the state agency should move forward.
As the Bay Area Reporter reported November 3, there have been two guilty pleas from former Office of AIDS employees as a result of the scandal, which saw the agency — tasked with coordinating state services, programs, and activities related to the HIV/AIDS epidemic under the aegis of the California Department of Public Health — defrauded out of approximately $2.7 million between December 2017 and November 2018.