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4,626 Publications Found
February 29, 2012 - Presented to Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 1 on Health and Human Services, Hon. Holly J. Mitchell, Chair
February 29, 2012 - State budget update presented at California Charter Schools Conference.
February 27, 2012 - There are plenty of mixed signals in economic data for California’s policymakers, as they continue to craft state and local budgets in a constrained fiscal environment. The economy now is clearly improving in many important ways, including employment growth, but significant impediments block the state’s path to a more robust economic recovery. Like the economic data, reports concerning state revenues have been mixed recently too, with weakness in income tax payments accompanied by speculation concerning a future bonanza of tax revenues due to the possible offering of stock by Facebook, Inc. This report provides our updated projections concerning these and other trends in the economy and state revenues.
February 24, 2012 - The DMV, which provides service to over 20 million customers per year and operates 313 facilities, has made efforts in the past decade to improve its efficiency and provide better customer service in field offices and elsewhere. The 2012-13 Governor’s budget includes several proposals to build on these efforts, including incentivizing DMV customers to complete transactions without visiting a field office, combining information technology systems, expanding electronic driver's license testing, and undertaking infrastructure projects to adjust to demands at DMV field offices due to shifting populations. We find that the Governor’s budget proposals have merit and could improve DMV’s efficiency. We have identified, however, a number of shortcomings and recommend that the Legislature modify some of the Governor’s proposals, as well as take additional actions to further expand some of the department’s current efforts to increase efficiency and outreach.
February 23, 2012 - In 2011, the state enacted several bills to realign to county governments the responsibility for certain felon offenders who previously had been eligible for state prison and parole. These changes will significantly reduce the inmate and parole populations managed by CDCR. This report identifies the impacts of the realignment of adult offenders on CDCR's operations and facility needs, discusses whether realignment will enable the state to meet the prison population limit required by the federal court, as well as whether the change in the makeup of CDCR's inmate population following realignment will affect its housing, mental health, and medical facility needs. The report provides recommendations on how to better match CDCR facilities and programs with the remaining inmate population following the realignment.
February 22, 2012 - Presented to: Senate Transportation and Housing Committee and Senate Governance and Finance Committee, Hons. Mark DeSaulnier and Lois Wolk, Chairs
February 22, 2012 - Presented to the Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review and Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committees
February 22, 2012 - The Governor proposes to reduce funding for the CalWORKs program and state-subsidized child care programs. Under his budget plan, these programs would be reduced a total of $1.4 billion or about 20 percent in 2012-13 compared to what current law otherwise would require. These savings would be achieved by imposing stricter limits on which families are eligible to receive which types of services, as well as lowering state payments for CalWORKs recipients and child care providers. Additionally, the Governor’s proposal would make major changes to the way the state administers both welfare-to-work and child care services. In this report, we describe and analyze the Governor’s proposals related to the CalWORKs program and then turn to a similar discussion of the proposed changes to child care programs. We conclude by providing the Legislature with illustrative packages of ways to achieve savings in these two areas using different approaches than the Governor's.
February 22, 2012 - In 2011, the state enacted several bills to enact a wide-ranging “realignment,” shifting several state programs and a commensurate level of revenues to local governments. Perhaps the most significant programmatic change implemented as part of the 2011 realignment was realigning to county governments the responsibility for managing and supervising certain felon offenders who previously had been eligible for state prison and parole. This report provides an update on the status of realignment, reviews changes proposed by the Governor, and makes several recommendations designed to promote the long-term success of realignment, such as creating a reserve fund for revenue growth as well as designing an ongoing allocation formula that is responsive to future demographic changes.
February 21, 2012 - Presented to: Joint Oversight Hearing of the Assembly and Senate Health Committees and Assembly and Senate Budget Subcommittees on Health and Human Services Hons. Bill Monning and Ed Hernandez, Chairs, Assembly and Senate Health Committees Hons. Holly Mitchell and Mark DeSaulnier, Chairs, Assembly and Senate Budget Subcommittees on Health and Human Services
February 21, 2012 - Presented to: Joint Oversight Hearing of the Assembly and Senate Health Committees and Assembly and Senate Budget Subcommittees on Health and Human Services
February 17, 2012 - As part of the 2012-13 budget, the Governor proposes to reduce the negotiated rates paid to Healthy Families Program (HFP) managed care plans and shift the children enrolled in HFP to Medi-Cal over a nine-month period. In this report, we provide background information on HFP and Medi-Cal and how they will be affected by implementation of federal health care reform. We discuss the potential merits of the Governor’s proposal, but raise several implementation issues and concerns. Specifically, the savings in the budget year may be less than the administration’s estimates, and the proposal will disrupt healthcare services for some HFP enrollees and may impact access to providers. Finally, we make recommendations that encourage the consideration of alternatives to the Governor’s plan.
February 17, 2012 - California’s system for providing health and social services to low-income seniors and persons with disabilities (SPDs) receiving Medicare and/or Medi-Cal is not coordinated. This lack of care coordination may lead to SPDs being unnecessarily hospitalized or placed in skilled nursing facilities rather than remaining in their own homes—resulting in poor outcomes for recipients and higher costs for the federal and state governments. As part of the 2012-13 budget, the Governor attempts to address this issue by proposing to integrate health and social services into managed care for most SPDs. In this report, we provide background information on the Medi-Cal and Medicare Programs and describe recent federal and state legislation to address fragmented care delivery. We discuss the potential merits of the Governor’s proposal, but raise several implementation issues and concerns. Finally, we make recommendations that encourage care coordination for SPDs by first completing and evaluating a currently authorized integrated care demonstration project in four counties rather than expanding the demonstration statewide as proposed by the Governor— an action that we think is premature. We also encourage the consideration of other ways to test the integration of benefits for SPDs.
February 17, 2012 - On February 1, 2012, all redevelopment agencies in California were dissolved and the process for unwinding their financial affairs began. Given the scope of these agencies' funds, assets, and financial obligations, the unwinding process will take time. This report reviews the history of RDAs, the events that led to their dissolution, and the process communities are using to resolve their financial obligations. The report recommends the Legislature amend the redevelopment dissolution legislation to address timing issues, clarify the treatment of pass–through payments, and address key concerns of redevelopment bond investors.