(a) If an authority fails to provide a copy of the completed audit to the Controller as required by paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) within 20 days following receipt of a written notice of the failure from the Controller, the authority shall forfeit to the state:

(1) Two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) in the case of an authority with a total revenue, in the prior year, of less than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), as reported in the Controller’s annual financial reports.

(2) Five thousand five hundred dollars ($5,500) in the case of an authority with a total revenue, in the prior year, of at least one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) but less than two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000), as reported in the Controller’s annual financial reports.

(3) Ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in the case of an authority with a total revenue, in the prior year, of at least two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000), as reported in the Controller’s annual financial reports.

(b) If an authority fails to provide a copy of the completed audit to the Controller as required by paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) within 20 days after receipt of a written notice pursuant to subdivision (a) for two consecutive years, the authority shall forfeit an amount that is double the amount of the forfeiture assessed pursuant to subdivision (a).

(c) (1) If an authority fails to provide a copy of the completed audit to the Controller as required by paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) within 20 days after receipt of a written notice pursuant to subdivision (a) for three or more consecutive years, the authority shall forfeit an amount that is triple the amount of the forfeiture assessed pursuant to subdivision (a).

(2) The Controller shall conduct, or cause to be conducted, an independent financial audit report.

(3) The authority shall reimburse the Controller for the cost of complying with this subdivision.

(d) Upon the request of the Controller, the Attorney General shall bring an action for the forfeiture in the name of the people of the State of California. If the Attorney General fails to respond to the request within 90 days of its receipt, then any other available remedies may be exercised. An action filed pursuant to this section to compel an agency to comply with this section is in addition to any other remedy and is not an exclusive means to compel compliance.

(e) Upon satisfactory showing of good cause, the Controller shall waive the forfeiture requirements of this section.

(Added by Stats. 2015, Ch. 319, Sec. 2. (AB 2) Effective January 1, 2016.)