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1,015 Publications Found
March 4, 2004 - Today, the Medi-Cal Program offers a paradox: aged and disabled beneficiaries who would benefit the most from the improved health care that can come from receiving coordinated care have largely been excluded from Medi-Cal managed care. To improve health care for this group and reduce Medi-Cal expenditures, we recommend shifting an estimated 330,000 aged or disabled persons from the fee-for-service system to Medi-Cal managed care.
February 13, 2004 - The expressed goal in current law is that all Californians should be afforded the opportunity to receive a college education. The Master Plan for Higher Education, originally adopted by the Legislature in 1960, has served as the state's higher education roadmap. This report describes the state's admissions policies and practices, and assesses how they relate to the Master Plan. While we conclude that the Master Plan's commitment to access can be maintained even in the current fiscal environment, this will require some adjustments in current policies and practices.
February 12, 2004 - The 2002 California English Language Development Test documents the progress of more than 1.3 million English learner students in the state. This reports summarizes student achievement as measured by the test and evaluates the rate at which students' English skills improve. On the whole, student progress is slow, although some groups of students appear to make rapid progress.
February 11, 2004 - California's program for substance abuse treatment services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries, known as Drug Medi-Cal, provides a patchwork of services with an inconsistent level of support for different modes of treatment and for different treatment populations. In this report, we recommend an approach for addressing these concerns which would provide greater authority and resources for community-based services, contain the fast-growing costs of methadone treatment, and integrate a new and potentially more cost-effective mode of treatment into Drug Medi-Cal that does not require a net increase in state General Fund resources.
February 2, 2004 - Chapter 465, Statutes of 2000 (SB 1913, McPherson), requires the Legislative Analyst‘s Office (LAO), in consultation with the California District Attorney’s Association and the State Department of Education, to report to the Legislature regarding the implementation of newly established penalties for parents who violate the state’s compulsory education laws. In this report, we: (1) provide background information on the state’s compulsory attendance laws and the interventions to be taken if these laws are violated, as well as explain how homeschooling served as the impetus for important provisions of Chapter 465 and (2) review the implementation of these laws and interventions. We also recommend the Legislature: (1) clarify existing laws related to homeschooling and truancy penalties and (2) improve related data collection efforts.
January 20, 2004 - We recommend that the Legislature (1) remove the cap on the number of charter schools that may operate in the state, (2) restructure the charter school categorical block grant, (3) strengthen charter school oversight by permitting school districts to opt out of charter authorizing, allowing for multiple authorizers, and creating safeguards to promote stronger accountability and (4) modify fee policies by delineating more clearly between facility fees and oversight fees, capping these fees, and eliminating the mandate-claims process for oversight costs.
December 30, 2003 - The value of the EZC program is quite dependent on the goals that the Legislature wishes to achieve. Available evidence generally indicates that EZ incentives have little if any impact on the creation of new economic activity or employment. On the other hand, EZ incentives do appear to be effective in increasing economic activity within smaller geographic areas—such as within metropolitan regions.
December 30, 2003 - In 2002 and 2003, the Commission on State Mandates determined that 23 sets of state laws impose state-reimbursable mandates on local governments. The commission estimated the state's cost to reimburse local agencies for these mandates is about $400 million. This report reviews the newly identified mandates, and offers recommendations as to whether each mandate should be repealed, funded, suspended, or modified.
December 22, 2003 - The K-12 revenue limit formula distributed more than $28 billion in resources to school districts in 2002-03. We document the components of the revenue limit formula and how they affect the distribution of general purpose funds to school districts. We also recommend that the Legislature consolidate most of the existing revenue limit adjustments into one new general purpose grant which would make K-12 funding much easier to understand.
November 30, 2003 - Economic theory suggests that without some form of subsidy, overall research and development (R&D) spending in society would be lower than the economically optimal level. A strong case can be made that such a subsidy is appropriate at the federal level. However, we are not aware of economic evidence which, on balance, justifies a state credit in addition to the federal credit.
October 24, 2003 - Chapter 421, Statutes of 2001 (AB 1402, Simitian) authorizes school districts to enter into "design-build" contracts for specified construction projects and to submit specific information about these projects to the LAO upon completion of construction. This interim report describes the design-build process and reports that, thus far, no districts have reported to the LAO that they are using the design-build authorization provided by Chapter 421.
February 5, 2003 - Assembly Constitutional Amendment 11, which will appear on the March 2004 statewide ballot, would establish the California Twenty-First Century Infrastructure Investment Fund, a dedicated financing source for state and local infrastructure projects. We provide background on state capital outlay planning and funding, explain how the measure works, and describe the measure's potential fiscal impact.
January 28, 2003 - The Department of General Services' (DGS) GS $Mart Program has been used to finance $521 million in state equipment purchases over the past seven years. We find that DGS has demonstrated initiative in developing this innovative program but that the program has significant deficiencies, including a lack of statutory authority.