In California: State unemployment fraud may total $2 billion

Plus: Biden selects California AG Xavier Becerra as his nominee for health and human services secretary, and a smartphone tool helps trace coronavirus cases.

I'm Winston Gieseke, philanthropy and special sections editor for The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, bringing you the latest goings-on in this great state of ours.

In California brings you top Golden State stories and commentary from across the USA TODAY Network and beyond. Get it free, straight to your inbox.

Bank of America: California unemployment fraud may total $2 billion

There is more potential bad news on the horizon for California's Employment Development Department (EDD), which has had its share of problems this year, ranging from backlogged claims to approving unemployment benefits for more than 35,000 inmates.

In a warning letter to state legislators Monday, officials from Bank of America — the bank contracted with the EDD to issue debit cards containing unemployment benefits —said that 640,000 suspicious accounts had been identified and should be investigated, including claims filed in the names of infants, children, centenarians and people living in states not contiguous to California. (It's thought to be more likely for unemployed Californians to retreat to adjacent states.) In the letter, the bank estimates that the amount of fraud could total $2 billion.

The Los Angeles Times reports that this "represents the highest estimate of fraud yet in a system that has paid $110 billion since the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a wave of joblessness in California beginning in March."

Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, called this news "outrageous."

“We understand that there was an effort to push as much money into the economy as possible, but there has got to be some controls," he said. "It is like they have opened up a bag of cash in the middle of a tornado and hoped that it ends up someplace where it is supposed to be."

Representatives of EDD and the governor have not yet commented, but Assemblyman Jim Patterson (R-Fresno) said Monday that too many Californians who need their unemployment benefits are being stymied by red tape. “Identifying fraud must be a priority, but Californians with no income cannot be sacrificed on the altar of incompetence,” he said.

Biden names California AG Xavier Becerra as health secretary

Another high-ranking Californian is poised to join the Biden team. The president-elect has picked California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be his health secretary. If confirmed by the Senate, Becerra, 62, will be the first Latino to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

A former senior House Democrat, Becerra will oversee the $1-trillion-plus agency with 80,000 employees and a portfolio that includes drugs, vaccines and leading-edge medical research and health insurance programs covering more than 130 million Americans.

As California's attorney general, Becerra has served as the leader of a coalition of Democratic states defending the Affordable Care Act from the Trump administration's attempts to overturn it. (A legal case is awaiting a Supreme Court decision next year.)

Prior to serving as California’s attorney general, Becerra, whose mother was born in Mexico, had served for more than a decade in Congress, representing parts of Los Angeles County. He had also served in the California state assembly after attending law school at Stanford.

Will Californians stay home for Christmas under Gov. Gavin Newsom's orders?

Rather than going home for the holidays, some Californians may consider themselves "stuck at home for the holidays" if they follow the new mandates that went into effect Sunday night across much of the state as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has said that his new stay-at-home orders and business shutdowns in regions where hospital intensive care unit capacity falls below 15% can flatten the spiking curve in COVID-19 cases until vaccines are available.

However, at least two county sheriffs say they won't enforce the restrictions. "The Riverside County sheriff's department will not be blackmailed, bullied or used as muscle against ... residents in the enforcement of the governor's orders," said Sheriff Chad Bianco. He called Newsom "extremely hypocritical."

“Compliance with health orders is a matter of personal responsibility and not a matter of law enforcement,” Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes, a Republican, said in a statement. "Orange County Sheriff's deputies will not be dispatched to, or respond to, calls for service to enforce compliance with face coverings, social gatherings or stay-at-home orders only."

Newsom, who has urged Californians to stay home as much as possible and to wear masks when they must go out, has threatened to withhold state funds from jurisdictions that fail to enforce the rules. (He also drew fire after attending a mixed-household dinner party at a restaurant on Nov. 6.)

Erica Pan, a physician and acting state public health officer, said the governor's order strikes a balance between saving lives and providing essential services. “Staying home for three weeks is a sacrifice," she said. "But if every Californian did that for a month, we could stop this disease in its tracks."

Smartphone tool helps trace coronavirus cases

When you consider how much technology informs nearly every aspect of our lives, it's easy to justify fantasizing about smartphone apps that can do just about anything, no matter how outlandish: Find your lost cat with the click of a button. Make it rain. Astral project yourself to the Bahamas.

But here's one that's for real: Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday that California will begin rolling out a voluntary smartphone tool Thursday that alerts people if they've spent time near someone who tests positive for the coronavirus.

The app uses Bluetooth signals to determine when phones are within six feet of one another; if someone you've recently come into close contact with tests positive for the virus, the tool will then anonymously alert you.

How exactly does this work? The language on the tool's official website is a bit vague: "Once you activate CA Notify, it does all the work," is all it says.

The system, which was co-created by Apple and Google, is already available in 16 states, plus Guam and Washington, D.C., though most residents in those areas aren’t using it. In addition, the tool has been used on a pilot basis on University of California campuses.

For instructions on how to download the app on your phone, visit canotify.ca.gov.

That's all for this Monday. We'll be back in your inbox tomorrow with more headlines from the Golden State.

In California is a roundup of news from across USA Today network newsrooms. Also contributing: California Globe, CNBC, Fox News, Los Angeles Times,

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: California unemployment fraud may total $2 billion