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January 30, 2001 - The Children's Health and Disability Prevention (CHDP) program's role as a "gateway" to the Healthy Families Program has never been fully established. We recommend several changes in California designed to reduce the number of uninsured children and promote comprehensive health coverage for low-income children.
January 24, 2001 - It appears that there are a number of potential benefits from e-government implementation. We raise, though, a number of concerns about the direction that the state is taking in this area. We also outline specific qualities to look for before approving future e-government proposals and identify policy issues to address.
December 14, 2000 - We outline the implementation issues and challenges with regard to Proposition 36, the "Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000." We also make several recommendations. In our view, planning must begin now in order to ensure the effective implementation of the measure.
March 29, 2000 - Handout accompanying testimony given to Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Education Finance
March 8, 2000 - The past 43 years in California have seen significant changes in the care and treatment of the mentally ill. We highlights the major events that have altered the administration and funding of the programs for the mentally ill since 1957.
February 24, 2000 - Index of Information Technology Issues in the Analysis of the Budget Bill, 2000-01
February 17, 2000 - The Governor's budget provides a total of $433 million to increase the use of technology in education. We comment on this proposal and make several recommendations.
February 17, 2000 - The state's prisons now hold far more mentally ill offenders than its state mental hospitals. Additionally, an increasing number of inmates with severe mental disorders are being released to the community to an inadequate patchwork of supervision, treatment services, and assistance. We discuss several initiatives in the Governor's budget plan aimed at keeping the mentally ill out of the criminal justice system and suggest a more comprehensive approach for addressing these complex problems.
February 17, 2000 - We summarize the initiative and provide our assessment of it.
February 17, 2000 - We recommend enactment of legislation to conduct a pilot test of the Wisconsin system in up to four California counties.
February 17, 2000 - We recommend either repealing the county performance incentive provision or replacing it with a new system.
January 31, 2000 - The growth of the Internet raises many tax policy issues. These include: How can we ensure that the tax system is fair without interfering with the Internet's evolution? How will the Internet's growth affect government tax bases? We examine these and other Internet-related tax issues in detail, and recommend that California approach them by pursuing multistate tax agreements and consider undertaking a comprehensive review of telecommunication related levies.
January 27, 2000 - In 1999, the Legislature and Governor changed the state’s child support enforcement program which significantly increased state authority over the program. We review the governing legislation and recommend steps designed to maximize collections while minimizing federal penalties and automation problems.
August 31, 1999 - The federal welfare reform legislation of 1996 requires states to have specified percentages of their caseload working or engaged in some other work-related activity. For federal fiscal year (FFY) 1997--October 1996 through September 1997--California met the work participation rate for all families but did not meet the higher rate for two-parent families. This failure could result in a penalty of $7 million. (8 pp.)