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1,015 Publications Found
May 15, 2015 - As part of the 2015-16 May Revision, the Governor proposes to establish a new process for reviewing changes to labor contracts. This analysis reviews the administration’s proposal and recommends that the Legislature adopt it with modifications to ensure legislative and public oversight.
May 6, 2015 - California’s state and local governments levy a tax on retail sales of tangible goods. This report begins with an overview of California’s sales and use tax. It then provides more detail about which transactions are subject to this tax, the variation in tax rates across the state, the distribution of revenue among state and local governments, and revenue growth over the last few decades.
(5/12/15: Correction made to expiry date of manufacturing equipment exemption.)
(5/12/15: Correction made to difference in sales tax for gasoline.)
May 5, 2015 - Oversight of the quality of care provided by Medi-Cal Managed Care (MMC) plans is an increasingly important issue for the Legislature to examine, as MMC enrollment and the geographic reach of MMC have grown significantly over the past decade. In this report, we analyze the quality of MMC plans and current DHCS efforts to improve MMC plan quality, and consider additional steps and alternative approaches, such as P4P, the state could take to monitor plans and stimulate quality improvement in MMC.
April 29, 2015 - The Beverage Container Recycling Program has operated with an annual structural deficit averaging about $90 million since 2008-09 and is currently forecast to run an average deficit of almost $60 million from 2014-15 to 2017-18, absent any changes to reduce expenditures or increase revenues. In this report, we make several recommendations that could eliminate the structural deficit and improve overall program effectiveness. Specifically, we recommend (1) requiring beverage manufacturers to pay for the full cost of recycling their containers, (2) evaluating program activities to determine how cost-effective they are at achieving recycling and litter reduction goals, (3) giving recyclers more flexibility in where they locate and piloting a new recycler payment structure in order to improve convenience for consumers, and (4) adjusting the administrative payments to program participants to reflect their actual costs.
April 22, 2015 - California imposes excise taxes on cigarettes and on other tobacco products such as cigars and chewing tobacco. The state also licenses tobacco sellers and distributors. Recently, there has been considerable legislative interest in the cost of these programs, which are administered by the State Board of Equalization (BOE). The Legislature faces two key decisions: (1) how to pay for BOE’s cigarette and tobacco programs, and (2) how much to spend on them. This report recommends that the state use excise tax revenue to pay for excise tax administration but not for the tobacco licensing program. To address the imbalance between the licensing program’s costs and revenue, we further recommend the Legislature (1) temporarily increase fees on tobacco retailers, wholesalers, and distributors, and (2) direct BOE and the California Department of Justice to explore options to reduce the program’s costs by promoting electronic filing of schedules and tax returns.
April 16, 2015 - The state authorizes six types of alternative schools to provide educational options for students who could benefit from an environment different from their traditional schools or who cannot stay at traditional schools because of behavioral issues. These schools often are designed as short-term interventions to get these students back on track to graduate.
Currently, the state does not have sufficient information to determine how well alternative schools are educating students. We recommend the state collect better performance data for alternative schools and then use this information to set performance expectations, monitor their progress toward meeting those expectations, and support underperforming schools.
(5/13/15: Correction made to Figure 1 regarding number of opportunity and juvenile court schools.)
April 7, 2015 - This report provides a preview of possible budgetary outcomes that the state’s elected leaders may face while finalizing the 2015–16 budget package in May and June. We do not produce a new revenue or budget outlook in this report. Rather, we consider the key factors that will affect May estimates. In general, this report’s scenarios discuss revenues and spending relative to the administration’s January 2015 budget estimates.
March 27, 2015 - This report provides background regarding CalTech’s IT project responsibilities, discusses common project challenges, describes how projects are currently managed in the state, comments on the administration’s plan to centralize project management, and makes recommendations on how the Legislature should proceed with implementing a centralized Project Management Office in California.
March 25, 2015 - Chapter 620, Statutes of 2012 (AB 970, Fong), also known as the Working Families Student Fee Transparency and Accountability Act, requires the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) to fulfill three types of requirements related to systemwide tuition and fee increases. As detailed in this report, our review found UC was not in compliance with most provisions of Chapter 620. Though the legislation deems its provisions required for UC, UC believes it is not legally obligated to comply because of its constitutional autonomy. We found CSU complied with all Chapter 620 provisions.
March 25, 2015 - Proposition 2—approved by the voters in November 2014—places formulas into the State Constitution that determine the minimum amount of debt payments and budget reserve deposits to be made in a fiscal year. This publication analyzes the administration’s Proposition 2 proposal outlined in the 2015-16 Governor’s Budget. We recommend that the Legislature develop a long-term plan for Proposition 2 and suggest that the Legislature solicit proposals from the administration, state pension systems—including CalPERS, CalSTRS, and the UC Regents—and others concerning the benefits of applying Proposition 2 debt payment funds toward eligible liabilities. In addition, we note that, as of the Governor's January budget proposal, the administration's Proposition 2 plan for 2015-16 pays down more debt than required under the measure.
March 19, 2015 - The Department of General Services owns and maintains 58 office buildings across the state, and the current backlog of maintenance projects for these buildings totals an estimated $138 million. In this report, we identify factors that contribute to the accumulation of deferred maintenance in state buildings and make recommendations both to reduce the current backlog of maintenance projects and to address the ongoing contributing factors to the backlog.
March 18, 2015 - As part of the Governor’s budget for 2015-16, the administration proposes to reorganize the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board (VCGCB). In this report, we (1) review existing victim programs, (2) identify challenges regarding the current structure and delivery of these programs, and (3) recommend steps to help address these challenges.
March 17, 2015 -
Living in decent, affordable, and reasonably located housing is vitally important to every Californian. Unfortunately, housing in California is extremely expensive and, as a result, many households are forced to make serious trade-offs in order to live here. While many factors have a role in driving California's high housing costs, the most important is the significant shortage of housing in the state's highly coveted coastal communities. We advise the Legislature to address this housing shortfall by changing policies to facilitate significantly more private home and apartment building in California's coastal urban communities.
See our February 9, 2016 follow up to this report: Perspectives on Helping Low-Income Californians Afford Housing.
March 16, 2015 - Health benefits for retired state employees constitute a large and growing cost for the State of California. The state’s retiree health benefit program constitutes the state’s last major liability that needs a funding plan. As part of his 2015-16 budget, the Governor proposes one approach to address retiree health liabilities through the collective bargaining process. In our report, we recommend that the policy committees of the Legislature hold hearings to discuss the Governor’s proposal—as well as other options to address retiree health liabilities—with actuaries, employee groups, policy experts, and the public. We acknowledge that a delay in implementing a funding plan might make some elements of a funding plan more expensive; however, we think it is more important to get the plan right that to quickly set up a plan that can be implemented in 2015-16.
March 13, 2015 - To address the Governor's concerns with current Cal/OSHA enforcement, his budget proposes additional Cal/OSHA positions. We recommend that the Legislature approve the requested level of new positions. However, we emphasize that targeting planned inspections to those business establishments with the highest likelihood of improved compliance is critical to using planned inspection resources cost-effectively, and recommend that DIR report at legislative hearings on ongoing efforts to improve inspection targeting.