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555 Publications Found
March 11, 2025 - This post contains assessments and recommendations related to two proposed budget augmentations: the College Corps program and a new Belonging Campaign.
March 7, 2025 - In this post, we provide background on the State Library and analyze the Governor's budget proposals.
March 7, 2025 - This post provides issues for legislative consideration, as well as questions for the Legislature to ask, ahead of an expected May Revision budget proposal to fund development and implementation of the California State Payroll System information technology project.
March 6, 2025 - This post provides an overview of the Governor’s proposed 2025-26 budget for In-Home Supportive Services, provides updates on some of the most recent prior-year policy changes, and raises questions and issues for the Legislature to consider.
March 5, 2025 - The Encampment Resolution Funding (ERF) program provides grants for local communities to address homeless encampments by funding housing and other services to the people living there. To assist the Legislature in its fiscal oversight role of this large and multiyear program, this post: (1) provides data on the size of the population of people experiencing homelessness in California and recent state spending on housing and homelessness; (2) describes the ERF program’s goals, funding, and reporting requirements; (3) provides an update on ERF grantee awards, spending, and outcomes data available as of this writing; and (4) provides an assessment and makes an associated recommendation to the Legislature.
March 5, 2025 - This post provides our analysis of the administration’s 2025-26 proposal for the Child Welfare Services-California Automated Response and Engagement System information technology project. In the post, we summarize the current status of the project, assess the funding proposal and upcoming project risks and workload, and offer the Legislature recommendations to improve how it funds and oversees the project.
February 26, 2025 - This post provides an overview of the Proposition 35 spending plan under the 2025-26 Governor’s budget and raises key oversight issues for the Legislature.
February 26, 2025 - In this post, we assess the administration’s estimate of the level of spending required by Proposition 47 (2014), which reduced punishment for various crimes and requires the resulting state savings be spent on certain grant programs. In particular, we focus on the administration’s estimate of the effects of Proposition 36 (2024)—which reversed parts of Proposition 47—on the level of required state spending under Proposition 47.
February 26, 2025 - In this post, we provide background on the state’s English learner identification process, describe and assess the Governor’s proposal to provide $10 million for a multilingual learner screener in transitional kindergarten, and provide our recommendations to the Legislature.
February 25, 2025 - In this post, we provide background on state agencies in California government in general; the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing (BCSH) Agency, in particular; and the process for reorganizing state government. Next, we describe our understanding, based on discussions with the administration and available information at this time, of the Governor’s intent to reorganize BCSH. We conclude by providing key considerations for the Legislature when evaluating the Governor’s proposal when it is received in the Spring.
February 25, 2025 - The post assesses the adminstration's 2025-26 proposal for the fourth year of information technology (IT) modernization at the Employment Development Department (EDD). The portfolio, known as EDDNext, is now entering a critical phase, when aging IT systems that manage worker claims for Disability Insurance, Paid Family Leave, and Unemployment Insurance are to be replaced with new, integrated IT systems. Given this critical phase, as well as recent unscheduled changes and fund shifts within the EDDNext portfolio, we recommend the Legislature include stronger oversight tools going forward. These include: (1) remove extended encumbrance and expenditure deadlines; (2) add a notification period for the Joint Legislative Budget Committee to review final project documentation for the proposed Integrated Case Management System / Integrated Data Management IT project; (3) require the California Department of Technology to publish oversight reports every other month; and, (4) require EDD to provide quarterly legislative meetings.
February 24, 2025 - This post provides guidance to the Legislature for conducting fiscal oversight. As outlined in our November Fiscal Outlook, we advise the Legislature to use the 2025-26 budget process to conduct robust fiscal oversight of state programs. In particular, we advise the Legislature to put particular focus on programs and activities supported by the General Fund to help prepare for actions that might be needed to address expected deficits in the coming years.
February 24, 2025 - In this post, we provide an assessment of the administration’s request to effectively extend the pilot phase of the Office of Emergency Service’s Law Enforcement Mutual Aid Assistance Fund.
February 21, 2025 - In this post, we provide background on the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids program, information on the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families pilot and California’s pilot application, and comments and questions for the Legislature to consider surrounding the implementation of the pilot.
(03/20/25) Update on Federal Pilot. In March 2025, the federal government notified the five previously selected pilot states—California, Maine, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Ohio—that these states were deselected from the pilot project. The federal Administration for Children and Families (ACF) indicated it plans to take a new approach to the pilot program and will issue a new request for proposals from states. The previously selected pilot states will not be subject to work participation rate requirements for federal fiscal year 2025. More information is available on the ACF website.
February 20, 2025 - This post provides our assessment of a California Military Department proposal to spend $419,000 in 2025-26 (and $5.5 million in subsequent years) to construct a STARBASE classroom building at Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base.