SAN FRANCISCO - “We applaud the California Highway Patrol’s (CHP) efforts and will continue to follow their lead. Since we contacted the CHP in May and asked them to pick up where our review team left off, they have exhibited great leadership – as evidenced by the formation of the task force announced today.

“The State Fund Board has taken every step necessary to steadfastly and persistently probe the Fund and its programs to ensure all facets of the organization can withstand the greatest scrutiny. We hired an independent team last fall to conduct an internal review of State Fund operations. Based on results of that review, we terminated the appointments of the organization’s President and Vice President in March.

“Our review team continued their efforts after that time and in May determined they had done all they could. We decided then to refer the matter to the California Highway Patrol (CHP), which has jurisdiction over state agencies like State Fund. We will continue to use the utmost caution when discussing the matter to ensure we do not compromise the integrity of the task force’s investigation and their ability to complete it successfully. We will also continue to cooperate with the Department of Insurance and its regulatory function and audit of State Fund.

“Our priority now is to continue to make the changes necessary to the organization to strengthen our internal controls and revamp our management structure. Certainly, none of the changes we have made or plan to make are a result of concern about the financial health of State Fund or the quality of the work performed by State Fund employees. Our primary goal is to ensure we continue to give our customers the highest level of service possible.”