This Web-based list provides comments by the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) on budget issues being considered by the Legislature in 2010. Both budget-related findings and recommendations are included, but this is not intended to be a comprehensive tracking system of all budget items. The LAO will continue to publish various other written documents analyzing the state budget. The purpose of this list is to provide an efficient forum for our office to address more technical budget issues for which we may not have a formal write-up.
This list is designed so it can be filtered by policy area or budget item. Also, selected information from the list can be downloaded to an Excel spreadsheet.
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| Last Updated | Program | Issue | Finding or Recommendation | More Detail? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7/8/2010 | Commission on State Mandates | Open Meeting Act Mandate | Amend statute to recast provisions as "best practices" for implementing Proposition 59 | Detail |
| 7/8/2010 | Commission on State Mandates | Local Recreational Program Mandate | Amend statute to specify that local agencies may offset their screening costs by charging applicants fees to transmit their fingerprints to DOJ and, in the case of prospective employees, paying DOJ’s fingerprint processing fees.Fund prior year cost of mandate | Detail |
| 7/8/2010 | Commission on State Mandates | Mandate Redetermination Process | Amend law to establish a process whereby the Commission on State Mandates may redetermine prior mandate decisions. | Detail |
| 7/8/2010 | Mental Health Services for Special Education Pupils | AB 3632 Mandated Mental Health Services | Continue county mandate for one year, then eliminate mandate. Schools would assume program responsibility | Detail |
| 6/4/2010 | State Teachers' Retirement System | Budgeted contributions to CalSTRS in 2010-11. | Mandatory General Fund contributions to CalSTRS will be $6 million above those reflected in the Governor's budget package. Additional mandatory payments exceeding over $100 million per year likely will commence in 2011-12--not in 2010-11, as we expected previously. | Detail |
| 6/4/2010 | State Teachers' Retirement System | Budgeted contributions to CalSTRS in 2010-11. | Mandatory General Fund contributions to CalSTRS will be $6 million above those reflected in the Governor's budget package. Additional mandatory payments exceeding over $100 million per year likely will commence in 2011-12--not in 2010-11, as we expected previously. | Detail |
| 5/28/2010 | State Contributions to CalPERS for State Employee Pension Benefits | State pension contributions to CalPERS in 2010-11. | Recommend sending Control Section 3.60 to conference committee, given the CalPERS board's delay in setting the state's 2010-11 pension contribution rates. | Detail |
| 5/21/2010 | Governor's Office of Economic Development | Establishment of the Governor's Office of Economic Development (GoED) | Recommend rejecting the Governor's proposal to create a new economic development office, given that the Legislature should make this decision through the legislative process. | Detail |
| 5/20/2010 | Contributions to the Judges' Retirement Funds | Contributions to the Judges' Retirement System (JRS) II. | Recommend that the Legislature modify Control Section 3.60 of the budget act to reflect the 24.041 percent required employer contribution for JRS II in 2010-11. The administration will need to score additional non-budget-act General Fund spending of $7.87 million in the JRS line item related to the JRS II contribution rates. | Detail |
| 5/19/2010 | Office of Administrative Law | Switch funding for the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) to a fee-for-service model. | Recommend that the Legislature approve the proposed switch of funding for OAL to a fee-for-service model. We also recommend that the Legislature reject the May Revision proposal to place OAL within the State and Consumer Services agency. | Detail |
| 5/14/2010 | Reduction for Employee Compensation | Governor's proposed "mandatory personal leave program" for 2010-11. | As we have stated previously, reductions to state personnel costs are necessary due to the magnitude of the budget problem. The total amount of personnel cost savings that the Legislature will need to target will depend on the other choices that it makes in putting together the 2010-11 budget package. | Detail |
| 5/14/2010 | Health and Dental Benefits for Annuitants | Proposed $200 million of General Fund savings due to federal health care reform's temporary early retiree reinsurance program. | Because we expect the savings eventually will prove to be less than $200 million, recommend sending all state employee and retiree health costs to conference committee so that more refined estimates of these savings and overall costs can be reflected in the final budget act. | Detail |
| 5/5/2010 | Office of Planning and Research | Elimination of the Office of Planning and Research (OPR). | Recommend that the Legislature eliminate OPR and increase by about $500,000 the savings in the Governor's proposal. The Legislature also has options to continue OPR in existence and still produce at least as much budgetary savings as proposed by the administration. | Detail |
| 5/5/2010 | California Agency on Service and Volunteering | Establishment of a new state agency, the California Agency on Service and Volunteering. | Recommend rejecting the Governor's proposal to create a new volunteerism agency. Recommend eliminating the position dubbed the Secretary of Service and Volunteering by the Governor for savings, thus ensuring flat year-over-year funding for this office. | Detail |
| 4/21/2010 | Citizens Redistricting Initiative | Proposed $3 million augmentation to support the new redistricting process. | Recommend that the Legislature deny the administration's request for additional funding and direct the Department of Finance and Secretary of State to begin planning for the redistricting commission's likely needs. The commission may come to the Legislature and ask for additional funds next year as permitted by Proposition 11 (2008). | Detail |
| 4/19/2010 | California Law Revision Commission | Transfer cost of the California Law Revision Commission to the Legislature's budget. | This is a judgment call for the Legislature as it considers its own budget within the context of overall state budget priorities. We note that given the principle of separation of powers described in Section 3 of Article III of the State Constitution, transfer of California Law Revision Commission costs to the legislative branch would be problematic so long as numerous members of the commission are appointed by the Governor. | Detail |
| 4/19/2010 | Commission on Uniform State Laws | Transfer cost of the Commission on Uniform State Laws to the Legislature's budget. | This is a judgment call for the Legislature as it considers its own budget within the context of overall state budget priorities. We note that given the principle of separation of powers described in Section 3 of Article III of the State Constitution, transfer of Commission on Uniform State Law costs to the legislative branch would be problematic so long as numerous members of the commission are appointed by the Governor. | Detail |
| 4/16/2010 | Department of Finance | Proposed expenditures for the state's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) oversight, auditing, and reporting activities. | Recommend reduction of proposed spending to reflect updated administration estimates of staffing costs. | Detail |
| 4/16/2010 | Governor's Recovery Act Inspector General | Proposed expenditures for the state's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) oversight, auditing, and reporting activities. | Recommend much smaller increase in proposed spending for Inspector General staff to help ensure that all 2010-11 ARRA oversight and reporting activities for the state are able to be paid from federal funds and that none have to be supported by the General Fund. | Detail |
| 4/16/2010 | Bureau of State Audits | Proposed expenditures for the state's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) oversight, auditing, and reporting activities. | Recommend adjustment to reflect updated estimates for the bureau's required ARRA workload in 2010-11, which are about $500,000 higher than those reflected in the Governor's January budget proposal. | Detail |
| 4/16/2010 | State Controller | Proposed expenditures for the state's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) oversight, auditing, and reporting activities. | Recommend no changes to Governor's April proposal for the State Controller's Office's ARRA oversight and auditing budget. | Detail |
| 4/16/2010 | California Agency on Service and Volunteering | Proposed establishment of a new state fund to accept disaster relief and other donations. | Recommend rejection of this proposal, which would create a duplicate private donation fund for disaster relief and give the executive branch far too much power. | Detail |
| 4/16/2010 | Department of General Services | Transfer of costs related to State Capitol repairs and maintenance to the Legislature's budget. | This is a judgment call for the Legislature as it considers its own budget within the context of overall state budget priorities. We note that the proposal does not allocate costs to other Capitol occupants, such as the Governor's Office and the Department of Finance. | Detail |
| 4/7/2010 | California Emergency Management Agency | Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program | Reduce Governor's budget request for the administration of the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program by $208,000 (from $800,000 to $592,000), because the California Emergency Management Agency has not provided sufficient workload information to justify the requested level of funding. | Detail |
| 3/8/2010 | Enterprise Zone Program | Enterprise Zone Program Administration | Recommend (1) increasing fees to fully cover the program’s administrative costs and (2) establishing a new fund to match revenues with the costs of the program’s administration. | Detail |
| 3/3/2010 | State Controller | Proposed funding of $500,000 ($250,000 General Fund) related to cash management, financial reporting, and actuarial advisory support. | We recommend denying this request. | Detail |
| 2/10/2010 | Cash Management and Budgetary Loans | Proposed statutory language to change the state's Prompt Payment Act. | Recommend approval of the proposed legislation. | Detail |
| 2/2/2010 | Commission on the Status of Women | Proposed General Fund support of $487,000 in 2010-11 for the Commission on the Status of Women. | Recommend that the Legislature eliminate the Commission on the Status of Women. | Detail |
| 2/2/2010 | California Science Center | The budget proposes to reduce General Fund support to the California Science Center by $12 million and replace the amount with revenues from admissions fees to be deposited into a new Science Center Fund. The Science Center would continue to receive $10.2 million from the General Fund in 2010-11 to pay debt service for Phase I and II of the Science Center expansion and existing operations. | Recommend approval in concept of charging admissions fees, but withhold recommendation on the amount of General Fund reduction pending the Center’s estimation of fee revenues that could be generated. We believe that support from the Science Center should come from a mix of funding, including admission fees, private donations, and other non-state revenues. However, given the number of annual visitors to the Center, it is not clear whether it can generate $12 million in revenues each year. | |
| 1/27/2010 | Reduction for Employee Compensation | Governor's proposal to shift a portion of state pension contributions to employees. | Recommend that the Legislature reject the administration's pension contribution proposal because of serious concerns about its legal viability. | Detail |
| 1/27/2010 | Reduction for Employee Compensation | Unallocated reductions in state department personnel costs (described by the administration as a "workforce cap"). | Recommend that the Legislature avoid making unallocated personnel cost reductions for departments, as proposed by the Governor. In particular, it would be difficult for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to achieve any significant unallocated savings without specific policy and operational changes. | Detail |
| 1/27/2010 | Reduction for Employee Compensation | Governor's proposal to reduce most state employees' salaries by 5 percent. | Reductions in state employee compensation likely will be necessary. Reducing employee pay is the most viable option to realize the overall level of state employee compensation savings in the Governor's proposal. | Detail |
| 1/27/2010 | Reduction for Employee Compensation | Moving management of state employee and retiree health benefit programs from the California Public Employees' Retirement System to another state entity. | Although exploring a move of health benefit programs is worth considering, we are skeptical that the $217 million ($153 million General Fund) savings that the administration assumes can be achieved in 2010-11. | Detail |
| 1/26/2010 | California Emergency Management Agency | Administration of the Governor's proposed emergency response initiative. | Reject the proposed surcharge on property insurance policies statewide as a funding mechanism for various emergency response activities, including five positions for the California Emergency Management Agency to administer the Emergency Response Fund in 2010-11. However, if the Legislature does approve the insurance surcharge, we find that it would be more appropriate to fund administration of the program through the Board of Equalization which collects other state taxes and fees. | Detail |