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4,639 Publications Found
March 10, 2010 - Presented to Joint Committee on the Master Plan for Higher Education
March 9, 2010 - This responds to Assembly Member De León's request relating to California’s regulatory environment and AB 32 (Núñez), the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Chapter 488, Statutes of 2006). Specifically, you have asked that we analyze the methodologies, data, and reliability of the findings of two studies by Varshney and Associates. In our response, we summarize the methodologies and analyses contained in these two studies, discuss their findings, and provide our assessment of the analyses supporting their conclusions.
March 9, 2010 - Presented to: Senate Human Services Committee Hon. Carol Liu, Chair
March 9, 2010 - Presented to Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee, Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 2 on Resources, Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee, and Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Resources
March 8, 2010 - In reviewing the Governor's budget proposal, we uncovered current actions and proposals of the administration that either circumvent the Legislature's authority, make it difficult for the Legislature to oversee the administration's spending, or limit the Legislature's flexibility in making decisions. We found that the administration is: developing new renewable energy procurement requirements that circumvent legislative policy as reflected in current state law (known as the renewables portfolio standard); using an Emergency Fund--intended to pay for large-incident wildland firefighting costs--to cover some day-to-day departmental expenditures that are more appropriately made subject to legislative budget review; proposing a somewhat similar emergency fund for flood management that would be structured to allow the administration to augment it at its discretion without notifying the Legislature; and proposing again to fund recreation activities at State Water Project facilities in a way that escapes legislative budgetary review for all the spending. Finally, we recommend rejection of the Governor’s proposal to dedicate the ongoing Tranquillon Ridge oil lease revenues to support state parks, because it limits the Legislature's future decision making.
March 5, 2010 - In this short webcast, analysts Eric Thronson and Jessica Digiambattista discuss the recently published LAO report "The 2010-11 Budget: Transportation."
March 4, 2010 - This responds to Senator Cogdill's request for an analysis of the net impact on jobs in California that would occur as a result of the implementation of AB 32 (Núñez), the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, Chapter 488, Statutes of 2006. In our response, we briefly summarize the basic provisions of AB 32 and its planned implementation through the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB’s) Scoping Plan (SP), discuss the avenues by which the SP would potentially affect California jobs, and present the jobs-related effects of the SP as estimated by CARB. We then comment on CARB’s analysis and offer our own view about how the SP might affect jobs.
March 4, 2010 - Presented to: Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 4 On State Administration Hon. Mark DeSaulnier, Chair
March 3, 2010 - We review the 2010-11 budget request of the High-Speed Rail Authority.
March 2, 2010 - The Governor’s budget proposes $18 billion in expenditures (mostly from special funds) for transportation programs in 2010‑11. We recommend the Legislature (1) reduce Caltrans' capital outlay support (COS) staffing by about 1,500 (and $200 million a year) to align with actual workload if Caltrans does not provide workload justification for its COS budget; (2) reject the Governor's request to appropriate $3.45 billion in future federal transportation funds for public-private partnerships because this program does not appear to be permissible under current law and because details are not available regarding how the majority of the funds (about $2.5 billion) would be used; and (3) adopt new reporting requirements for the High-Speed Rail Authority to increase accountability.
(Short video introducing this report)
February 25, 2010 - Section director Steve Boilard discusses the LAO report "The 2010-11 Budget: Higher Education."
February 25, 2010 - Section director Jennifer Kuhn discusses the LAO report "The 2010-11 Budget: Proposition 98 and K-12 Education."
February 25, 2010 - Though the Governor portrays his 2010-11 budget proposal as protecting education, his plan would affect areas of education quite differently—significantly reducing funding for child care and K-12 education while augmenting funding for most higher education programs. We recommend the Legislature build a more balanced education budget. For higher education, we recommend providing new funding for community colleges through a $14 per unit fee increase; reducing the proposed augmentations for the state’s universities while still restoring their per-student funding rates to 2007-08 levels; and rejecting the Governor's proposed cuts to financial aid programs. Our recommendations on other parts of the education budget are contained in a companion publication: The 2010-11 Budget: Proposition 98 and K-12 Education.
(Short video introducing this report)
February 25, 2010 - Though the Governor portrays his 2010-11 budget proposal as protecting education, his plan would affect areas of education quite differently—significantly reducing funding for child care and K-12 education while augmenting funding for most higher education programs. We recommend the Legislature build a more balanced education budget. Detailed in this report, our Proposition 98 alternative budget plan cuts child care about $100 million less than the Governor; makes approximately $800 million in targeted cuts to K-12 education, with additional K-12 cuts, as needed, coming from general purpose and/or categorical funding; and provides new funding for community colleges through a $14 per unit fee increase. In a companion publication, The 2010-11 Budget: Higher Education, we provide additional detail on our community college recommendations, as well as cover various other postsecondary education areas, including the state's universities and financial aid programs.
(Video introducing this report)
February 22, 2010 - In this short video, analyst Lisa Murawski discusses the LAO Report "Maximizing Federal Funds for HIV/AIDS: Improving Surveillance and Reporting."