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California Children's Services

February 19, 2003 - The state's programs to provide services for some of its most medically fragile children is missing opportunities to control increasing costs and preserve General Fund resources that could help address the state's fiscal problems. Potential General Fund savings would be at least $43 million.

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Fire Protection Fees

February 19, 2003 - We recommend enactment of legislation to fund one-half of the proposed General Fund budget for fire protection on state responsibility areas by imposing fees on property owners who benefit from these services. This would result in a savings of about $170 million to the General Fund.

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Coordinating State Agency Representation Before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)

February 19, 2003 - The current organization of the state's energy agencies, including the structure of the state's representation before FERC, should be evaluated after key decisions have been made that will dictate what the future structure of the state's electricity market will itself look like. For the interim, we recommend ways the Legislature can ensure coordination among the multiple agencies appearing before FERC.

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Oversight of Electricity Contract Settlement Funds

February 19, 2003 - The state has received cash and assets from settlements resulting from the renegotiation of energy contracts entered into by the state during the "energy crisis." Future settlements are also likely. We recommend that the Legislature hold hearings to consider uses for the settlement funds.

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Timber Harvest Fees

February 19, 2003 - $170 million savings if property owners who benefit from state fire protection services pay $6 per acre in order to offset one-half of the state's proposed General Fund costs to provide fire protection services largely to private landowners.

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Resource Assessments: Improving Effectiveness and Creating Savings

February 19, 2003 - A number of departments engage in resource assessment activities intended to determine the condition of natural resources in the state. We review several such activities and identify opportunities for funding shifts and program reductions, some of which will create savings. We also discuss opportunities to increase the value of the information collected.

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Proposition 50 Water-Related Proposals Need Better Definition

February 19, 2003 - Various budget proposals to expend Proposition 50 bond funds for water-related activities lack sufficient detail to justify approval. We recommend that the funding instead be put in legislation that defines the programs and guides their implementation.

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Fund Conditions For Resources Programs

February 19, 2003 - The state uses a variety of special and bond funds to support the departments, conservancies, boards, and programs under the Resources Agency that regulate and manage the state's natural resources. We provide a status report on selected special funds and bond funds supporting these programs.

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Environmental Protection Indicators

February 19, 2003 - Environmental Protection Indicators for California (EPIC) track changes that are taking place in the environment. We recommend the enactment of legislation to guide EPIC and to ensure that data generated by it is sufficiently linked to the budget development process.

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CALFED Bay-Delta Program

February 19, 2003 - We raise a number of policy, fiscal, and programmatic issues for the Legislature to consider.

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Project Delivery

February 19, 2003 - In recent years, the Caltrans has consistently rescheduled the delivery of many State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) projects to later years. This reduces the value of the STIP as a scheduling tool and renders Caltrans' annual capital outlay and capital outlay support budgets meaningless. We recommend that Caltrans and CTC report on the reasons for the high levels of project rescheduling. We further recommend budget bill language requiring CTC to identify in its next annual report strategies to reduce this level of rescheduling.

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Special Transportation Programs

February 19, 2003 - We review the State Transit Assistance (STA) program, which is one of the state's primary sources of financial support for public transportation.

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Motor Vehicle Account Condition

February 19, 2003 - The Motor Vehicle Account (MVA), which primarily funds the California Highway Patrol (CHP) and DMV, faces a significant deficit in the budget year without corrective actions. In order to ensure that the MVA remains in a healthy fiscal condition, the Legislature will have to either increase fees further or reduce expenditures for the departments it supports.

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Funding for Transportation Programs

February 19, 2003 - The Governor's proposal to use about $1.7 billion in transportation funds to aid the General Fund would delay projects in the Traffic Congestion Relief Program (TCRP) and makes the program's future funding uncertain. We recommend that the Legislature act quickly and decisively to determine the state's funding commitment to the program.

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Realignment and the 2003-04 Budget

February 19, 2003 - We identify factors to weigh in considering which programs would benefit from realignment. Using these factors, we identify $9.1 billion in programs meriting consideration: $5.1 billion of programs proposed by the administration and $4 billion of programs suggested by our office. Because realignment plans are difficult to modify over time, we recommend the Legislature take a long-term view in enacting program and funding changes.