(a) The Department shall maintain adequate controls to ensure responsibility and accountability for the expenditure of the Boating Safety and Boating Law Enforcement Equipment Grant Program funds. The Department or its representatives may conduct periodic systematic audits of a grantee in order to determine whether a grantee is in compliance with State and Federal law and the requests for reimbursement submitted by a grantee accurately represent the amount due the agency.

(b) The Department shall notify a grantee in writing at least one week in advance of all scheduled audits.

(c) A grantee shall make records available for review to the Department or its representatives. A grantee shall maintain records in accordance with the requirements specified in Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 18, subparts 18.41 and 18.42 -- Uniform Administrative Requirements for Grants and Cooperative Agreements to State and Local Governments. Such records shall include all receipts and invoices for purchases made with grant funds.

(d) If the Department or its representatives conduct an audit of a grantee, the Department shall issue an audit report to the grantee. The audit report shall include a description of how the audit was performed and a listing of findings, including any reimbursement to which the grantee was not entitled.

(e) When an audit indicates that a grantee has requested and received payments from the Department under this program to which it is not entitled, the grantee shall pay to the Department that portion of the reimbursement that was improperly requested within 90 days of notification of such finding unless the grantee submits an appeal pursuant to (g).

(f) When it is established that a grantee fraudulently requested and received payments under this program, the grantee shall pay to the Department all reimbursement requested from the Department under this program within 90 days of notification of such finding unless the grantee submits an appeal pursuant to (g).

(g) A grantee has the right to appeal the findings of any audit to the director of the Department in writing within 90 days after completion of the audit report. The grantee shall include in the written appeal a description of the items in question and the grantee's reason for the appeal. The appeal process shall commence with a conference between a representative of the Department and the grantee to review the items in question. If the appeal is not resolved to the grantee's satisfaction, the grantee may request that the matter be reviewed through a formal hearing conducted in accordance with Government Code Section 11500 et seq.