Governor Jerry Brown Thursday signed into law legislation by Senator Lois Wolk, D-Solano, to protect public agencies from fraud and enable the Solano County Office of Education to modernize and construct new facilities at a local special education center.
Wolk’s Senate Bill 441 responded to a shortcoming in current law that resulted in the City of Dixon falling victim to a scheme attempting to defraud the city of $1.3 million, an intended payment to a legitimate vendor with which the city contracts.
“This measure balances the public’s right to information about the contractors, vendors, and their affiliates hired by public agencies with the need to prevent the misuse of those entities’ identification information to defraud public agencies,” said Wolk.
Investigations of the scam targeting the City of Dixon revealed that the perpetrators developed their scheme using public information available online — including the unique identification number the city used for the vendor.