SACRAMENTO - State Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez (D-Los Angeles) today announced that an Assembly Committee will review the state's handling of federal homeland security funds after two reports from national groups criticized the Schwarzenegger Administration's bioterrorism responsiveness and failure to account for $100 million in federal grants.

Assembly Member Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate), Chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee's Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, will hold a hearing in February to look into the Administration's handling of federal homeland security funds.

"Californians deserve to feel safe knowing that we've taken the necessary steps to be prepared for any situation and that the federal funds we have received are fully accounted for," Assembly Member De La Torre said. "Being prepared for 1,000 people wouldn't even cover most of the schools in my district."

Assembly Member De La Torre also sent a letter to the LAO today requesting detailed information on how the $100 million is federal funds were allocated.

In June, the RAND Corporation, following an 18-month study, wrote: "Strong central leadership and coordination of public health appears to be lacking. Few jurisdictions believe they can count on the Department of Health Services in an emergency."

Another report, issued last month by the nonpartisan Trust for America's Health, stated that only five states scored worse than California on a report that graded the state's ability to respond to a terrorist attack.

The reports include the facts that the state had hired few staff into scores of openings made possible by federal funding and that it had failed to update computer systems to enable swift communication about suspicious cases of illness.

"I think we're reasonably prepared for a moderate-scale (fewer than 1,000 people) event," State Public Health Officer Dr. Richard J. Jackson told the Sacramento Bee. "Some of the larger-scale events, I don't even want to talk about."