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.
Filter by Subject Area or Budget Item
| 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 |
| 6/8/2010 | Department of Transportation - Planning Program | Conference Compromise - Reimbursement for Development of Local Pre-Programming Documents | Recommended conference compromise: Senate version minus $3.9 million in reimbursements (for 37 positions), plus $3.9 million from the State Highway Account (for 37 positions), and trailer bill language to require local agencies to reimburse the state for PID workload requested for projects that are not in a state or local program, and are not part of the state highway system. | 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 |
| 6/3/2010 | Employment Development Department | Workforce Investment Act (WIA) State Discretionary Funds | Redirect WIA state discretionary funds to the California State University nursing programs and other employment training programs to create General Fund savings in the low millions. | 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 |
| 5/27/2010 | Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation | Shift certain offenders from state prison to county jails. | Approve Governor's May Revision proposal to require that certain offenders sentenced to three years or less in state prison instead serve their time in county jails with certain modifications to address several concerns. Also, reject proposal to continuously appropriate from the General Fund $503 million starting in 2011-12 to support various local public safety programs. | Detail |
| 5/27/2010 | Judiciary | Court Security Fee Increase | Reject Governor's proposed fee increase. Instead consider using competitive bidding for court security or a temporary redirection court fine and fee revenues currently being set aside to fund various court construction projects costs. | Detail |
| 5/26/2010 | Healthy Families Program | CHIPRA Implementation | Approve the administration’s request for $7.2 million and 9.0 two-year limited-term positions, along with budget bill language that allows for legislative oversight and accountability for the funding. Direct MRMIB to explore partnerships with Department of Health Care services where possible to implement CHIPRA provisions. | Detail |
| 5/26/2010 | Healthy Families Program | Managed Care Organization (MCO) Tax Revenues Could Offset General Fund Support for Healthy Families Program (HFP) | Reduce General Fund support for HFP by $11.0 million and increase support from the Children‘s Health and Human Services (CHHS) special fund by the same amount. | 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 | Department of Health Care Services | Medi-Cal Managed Care Rate Setting Methodology for Two Plan Model | Based on our review of DHCS’ new rate development methodology, which includes a risk adjustment mechanism, it seems reasonable and overall appears to be consistent with the Mercer recommendations. We also make several recommendations regarding TPM rate setting. Please see the narrative below. | Detail |
| 5/20/2010 | Department of Health Care Services, Medi-Cal | Medi-Cal 2010-11 caseload estimate seems reasonable. | Adopt the Governor's proposed May Revision 2010-11 caseload estimate for the Medi-Cal Program. | Detail |
| 5/20/2010 | Department of Health Care Services- Medi-Cal | Cost containment proposals. | See details. | Detail |
| 5/20/2010 | Department of Health Care Services- Medi-Cal | Proposed new Control Section 23.25. | Reject the proposed new control section 23.25. We believe that changes to appropriations for the purpose of implementing federal health care reform should be subject to the same legislative oversight as other changes to appropriations. | Detail |
| 5/20/2010 | Department of Health Care Services- Medi-Cal | Health Information Technology Act—Medi-Cal Electronic Health Record Incentive Program. | Approve request for 11 staff and contract funds given the complexity of implementing this program and the sizeable amount of funding that it has the potential to distribute to Medi-Cal providers. However, instead of using money from a foundation, we recommend the Legislature fund the state’s share of the cost of $180,000 using General Fund dollars. | Detail |
| 5/20/2010 | CalWORKs | May Revision: Governor's Proposal to Eliminate CalWORKs. Effective October 1, 2010, this proposal would result in net savings of approximately $1.1 billion beyond earlier proposed reductions. | Recommend rejection of the Governor's May Revision proposal to eliminate CalWORKs. CalWORKs is a core program with a history dating back to the 1930s, provides significant federal funds relative to its General Fund cost, and prevents substantial cost shifts to county-funded General Assistance (GA) programs. However, once enhanced funding related to the federal stimulus legislation expires, the Legislature may need to make substantial reductions in 2010-11. | Detail |
| 5/20/2010 | California Medical Assistance Commission | Proposed Changes to California Medical Assistance Commission (CMAC) | Recommend the Legislature adopt the Governor’s proposal to transfer contract negotiations for GMC health care plans to DHCS because we believe this action will likely achieve savings and may administratively streamline these contract processes. We have concerns with the Governor’s other proposals to shift other responsibilities to DHCS and allow the Department of Finance to reduce or eliminate CMAC appropriations in the budget year, because we believe they are premature. | Detail |
| 5/20/2010 | California Department of Education | Child care quality improvement activities. | Reduce funding by $6.2 million to minimum federal requirement. | Detail |
| 5/20/2010 | California Department of Education | Child care quality improvement funds and community care licensing. | Redirect $4.3 million in federal child care block grant quality funds from other quality activities to community care licensing of child care facilities. Save like amount of state General Fund (non-Proposition 98). | Detail |
| 5/20/2010 | Department of Conservation | May Revision Request for Additional $3.2 Million and 17 Positions to Enhance Underground Injection Control Regulatory Program | Deny the request as proposed and instead appropriate, on a one-time basis, an add'l $2m from the Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Administrative Fund for the Underground Injection Control program, with no new position authority. Adopt budget bill language: (1) specifying how the $2m is to be used in the budget year, and (2) directing the administration to submit, with the Governor's 2011-12 budget, a budget request and workplan to implement the redesigned program to address identified deficiencies. | Detail |
| 5/20/2010 | Access for Infants and Mothers (AIM) Program | May Revision proposal for Access for Infants and Mothers | We consider it likely that the proposed May Revision level of funding will be adequate to fund all eligible caseload, and recommend adopting the May Revision proposal for the AIM program. If the Legislature wishes to increase the likelihood that the program is able to accept all eligible enrollees and that no policy changes will be necessary, it would require augmenting funding from the level proposed in the May Revision in order to ensure a prudent reserve. | Detail |
| 5/20/2010 | Healthy Families Program | Increases in Copayments. | Consider similar proposals in Healthy Families Program (HFP) and Medi-Cal in tandem and make copayments for the lowest-income HFP families consistent with those in Medi-Cal, consider adopting reduced levels of copayments, and consider making clarifying changes to proposed trailer bill language. | Detail |
| 5/20/2010 | Healthy Families Program | Increases in Premiums. | Adopt the administration’s proposals to increase premiums in order to achieve General Fund savings. | Detail |
| 5/20/2010 | Healthy Families Program | May Revision caseload estimate. | We recommend no caseload adjustment at this time. | 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 | Immunization Programs | Local assistance for immunization | Approve $10.5 million of the proposed $18 million General Fund in funding for local assistance for immunization. | Detail |
| 5/19/2010 | Department of Mental Health | State Hospital Caseload Over Budgeted | Recommend the Legislature reduce caseload funding by $6 million General Fund in the current year, and $14.6 million General Fund in the budget year to reflect lower than budgeted caseload in the Mentally Disordered Offender and Sexually Violent Predator populations. | Detail |
| 5/19/2010 | Department of Mental Health | Redirection of Some Sex Offender Commitment Program Savings Not Justified | Recommend the Legislature adopt the Governor’s proposal to reduce the Sex Offender Commitment Program by $10.3 million. However, reduce the proposed redirection for DMH legal work from $3.1 million to $1.2 million and require DMH to contract with DOJ for legal services; and, thereby increase the net General Fund savings from $7.2 million to $9.1 million. | Detail |
| 5/19/2010 | Department of Mental Health | Mental Health Realignment Risky, May Violate Proposition 63 | Recommend the Legislature require the department to report at budget committee hearings on its interpretation of the MHSA maintenance of effort requirements, and the potential impact of the proposed reduction on existing state and local programs. | 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 |
| 5/18/2010 | Every Woman Counts (Breast Cancer Early Detection) | Fiscal and Policy Options for the the Every Woman Counts (EWC) Program (includes analysis of Governor’s May Revision Proposals for EWC) | Adopt a modified version of the Governor’s cost containment proposals, consider redirecting existing funding for research to direct clinical services, improve transparency and legislative oversight by requiring the administration to prepare a formal budget estimate for the EWC program, and consider the long-term future of the program in light of federal health care reform. | Detail |
| 5/18/2010 | Department of Parks and Recreation | General Fund Savings Opportunities in State Parks | Retain previously adopted funding reductions for state parks and reject the Governor's proposal to fund state parks from the General Fund at the 2008-09 level ($140 million). This recommendation will result in $22 million in General Fund savings compared with the Governor's May Revision proposal. Given the state's fiscal situation, the Legislature should examine further opportunities for General Fund savings from the budget for state parks. | Detail |
| 5/18/2010 | Drinking Water | Immediate Implementation of the 2010 Water Bond | Deny majority of administration’s proposal to appropriate $1.1 billion for multiple programs in 2010-11, approving funding only for planning purposes. Require the administration to return in January with a complete multi-year bond expenditure implementation plan and detailed program expenditure criteria. | Detail |
| 5/18/2010 | California Asthma Public Health Initiative | Elimination of asthma programs. | Modify the proposal to preserve $1.2 million in funding for the California Asthma Public Health Initiative and eliminate $106,000 for a study within the Environmental Health Investigations Branch. | Detail |
| 5/18/2010 | California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority | May Revision Budget Request for General Fund Loan for New Program Start-Up Costs | Due to the current fiscal stress on the General Fund, we recommend an alternative funding source--the Renewable Resource Trust Fund--to make the loan for the initial start-up costs to implement Chapter 10, Statutes of 2010 (SB 71, Padilla). | Detail |
| 5/18/2010 | Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission | May Revision Request to Establish the Clean and Renewable Energy Business Financing Revolving Loan Fund | We recommend that the Legislature adopt budget bill language tied to the commission's federal funds appropriation to provide that expenditures for the new Clean and Renewable Energy Business Financing Program are conditioned on enactment of legislation establishing the new revolving loan fund. | Detail |
| 5/18/2010 | Public Utilities Commission | January Budget Proposal for 3 Positions at Public Utilities Commission to Support Procurement of Advanced Energy Storage (AES). | We find it is first necessary to determine the technological feasibility to which AES can play a role in California’s energy mix. This analysis is currently underway at the CAISO and CEC. Until such work is complete, we find the CPUC budget proposal premature. The budget proposal is also premature pending enactment of legislation that provides the Legislature's policy direction in this area. We therefore recommend denying CPUC’s budget request for AES activity in the budget year. | Detail |
| 5/17/2010 | Department of Fish and Game | General Fund Expenditure Reduction (Multiple Programs) | Given the state’s General Fund (GF) situation, approve Governor’s May Revision proposal to reduce GF by $5 million for Marine Life Protection Act, timber harvest plan review, fisheries restoration and CALFED Ecosystem Restoration program. (See narrative below.) | Detail |
| 5/17/2010 | State Water Resources Control Board | Fund Shift in Basin Planning Program | Recommend adoption of the Governor's May Revision proposal to shift $6.1 million of funding for basin planning from the General Fund to the Waste Discharge Permit Fund (a special fund), including related statutory change to allow this. This proposal is consistent with the longstanding LAO recommendation to shift funding for regulatory-related activities at the water boards to fees where appropriate. | |
| 5/17/2010 | 2010 Water Bond Implementation | May Revision Proposal to Appropriate Funds From 2010 Water Bond for Immediate Implementation | Deny majority of administration’s proposal to appropriate $1.1 billion for multiple programs in 2010-11, approving funding only for planning purposes and one specific project named in budget proposal (Red Bluff Diversion Dam). Require the administration to return in January with a complete multi-year bond expenditure implementation plan and detailed program expenditure criteria. | 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 |
| 5/11/2010 | Department of Transportation | Issuance of GARVEE bonds | Reject the request. | Detail |
| 5/10/2010 | In-Home Supportive Services | In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Recipient Fingerprinting | Delay the implementation of the requirement to fingerprint IHSS recipients until a second pilot project (or other cost-benefit analysis) is completed. This second pilot would determine whether the savings from fingerprinting recipients is expected to outweigh the cost of implementing this requirement. Adopting this recommendation results in General Fund savings of up to $4 million in 2009-10 and $2 million in 2010-11. | Detail |
| 5/10/2010 | Unemployment Insurance Program | In order to meet an April 2011 statutory deadline, the Employment Development Department proposes an interim parallel database solution for implementing an alternate base period. | Delay the statutory deadline by six months to allow the Employment Development Department (EDD) to continue with its original plan to implement an alternate base period without a risky parallel database. This would still give EDD a full year to complete ABP implementation before the federally imposed deadline of September 2012. | Detail |
| 5/7/2010 | Shared Revenues | Trailer vehicle license fee (VLF) backfill for International Registration Plan (IRP). | Recommend the Legislature eliminate this VLF backfill. This will provide $11.9 million in General Fund relief at the expense of lower funding to realignment programs. | Detail |
| 5/5/2010 | Department of Parks and Recreation | Proposed Concession Agreement for Point Lobos Ranch State Park. | Recommend the Legislature withhold approval of the Point Lobos Ranch concession proposal until the Department of Parks and Recreation has provided a final economic feasibility study. | 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 |
| 5/4/2010 | University of California and California State University | Review of Governor's proposal to augment UC and CSU General Fund support by $305 million each. The Governor's proposal does not specify how the universities should use this funding, along with several hundred million dollars in new fee revenue. | Recommend the Legislature provide smaller General Fund augmentations that, combined with anticipated fee revenue, would be sufficient to (1) restore UC's and CSU's per-student funding to pre-recession levels, and (2) serve a specified number of students. | Detail |
| 5/4/2010 | Department of Developmental Services | Lanterman Closure Proposal Has Merit, But Plan Lacks Fiscal Details | Recommend closure on a policy basis. It is consistent with state and federal laws, legal rulings, and past actions of the Legislature. As the population of developmental centers continues to decline, and more individuals with disabilities receive services in a community setting, it makes sense for the state to close these facilities. Withhold recommendation on closure plan pending receipt by the Legislature of fiscal and programmatic details of the plan. | Detail |
| 5/3/2010 | University of California and California State University | The Governor's April Letter proposals include $442 million in 2010-11 bond authorizations to fund capital outlay projects at UC and CSU. | We recommend downsizing the Governor's proposal by funding only the highest-priority projects that address life-safety issues or provide equipment necessary to complete previously funded projects. Funding only these projects would reduce proposed 2010-11 bond authorizations by $222 million and out-year capital outlay obligations by $143 million. | Detail |
| 5/3/2010 | California Department of Education | Categorical "flex-item" allocations. | Recommend the Legislature modify the methodology used for allocating flex-item funding to base it on annual changes in districts' average daily attendance. | Detail |
| 4/23/2010 | Medi-Cal Fiscal Intermediary Contract | An issue has arisen regarding the transition costs in 2010-11 of switching to a new fiscal intermediary (FI) for Medi-Cal. The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) estimates the new contract will result in savings of $0.9 million in 2010-11 while the current FI's consultant, Blue Sky Consulting, believes that the switch will result in costs of $11 to $13 million. | Found that costs in 2010-11 are likely to be similar regardless of whether the state goes forward with a new fiscal intermediary (FI) or extends the current contract. Moreover, any modest difference in short-run costs is not a significant enough factor, in our view, to delay moving forward with the new long-term FI contract. | 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 |
| 4/14/2010 | Air Resources Board | Implementation of AB 32---Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 | We find that the state's AB 32 activities will be shifting from the development of plans and regulations to program implementation and enforcement. We recommend that the Legislature: (1) take action to ensure that sufficient resources are devoted to the economic analysis of AB 32 measures and (2) direct ARB to provide a justification for the whole AB 32 program budget when the Governor's 2011-12 budget is submitted. | Detail |
| 4/13/2010 | Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation | Reentry court pilot program for parolees charged with or convicted of new crimes. | Approve the Governor's April Finance Letter proposal to establish a reentry court pilot program in San Diego County for parolees who have committed a new crime, but modify it to assume an additional $226,000 in net savings. Also, require the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to report on the progress and outcomes of the pilot program. | Detail |
| 4/9/2010 | Department of Transportation | Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit implementation (April Finance Letter #9) | Approve the request, but require a supplemental report be provided after the final settlement is approved. | 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 |
| 3/19/2010 | Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery | Funding and Policy Options for the Beverage Container Recycling Program | We recommend that the Legislature: (1) adopt certain of the Governor’s policy proposals affecting program expenditures, (2) act in general to protect the level of payments to recyclers (the core of the program), (3) wait until the May Revision update of the Beverage Container Recycling Fund fund condition before making additional budget-related changes to the program, and (4) consider long-term changes to the program in the legislative policy process. | Detail |
| 3/19/2010 | Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery | Overview of the Integrated Waste Management Account | Detail | |
| 3/19/2010 | Department of Toxic Substances Control | Implementation of the "Green Chemistry" Initiative | We recommend that the Legislature direct the administration to return with a funding proposal for the implementation of green chemistry regulations beyond January 2011 during the May Revision process. | Detail |
| 3/18/2010 | Department of Health Care Services | The administration requests resources for Medi-Cal claims processing systems and oversight of implementation of a replacement California Medicaid Management Information System (CA-MMIS). | Approve 34 of 35 positions. Reduce 4260-001-0001 by $15,000 and 1 position. | Detail |
| 3/18/2010 | Department of Health Care Services | Implementation of SB 1755, Extension of Limited Term Positions. | Consistent with our budget recommendation to support the Governor’s proposal to eliminate the ADHC benefit, we do not recommend approval of this request. However, if the Legislature chooses to continue the ADHC benefit, we recommend the Legislature approve 20 of the 23 requested positions. Reduce 4260-001-0001 by $83,000 and 3 positions. | Detail |
| 3/17/2010 | Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation | Inmate medical care. | Require the administration to present at budget hearings a detailed plan on how the proposed $811 million in savings in inmate medical operations under the control of the federal-court appointed Receiver will be achieved. Also, fund in the budget year only those information technology projects proposed by the Receiver that are deemed to be the most critical. | Detail |
| 3/17/2010 | Statewide Automated Welfare System (SAWS) | The Los Angeles Eligibility, Automated Determination, Evaluation and Reporting (LEADER) system is one of four county welfare consortia. When the legislatively approved migration of 35 counties to Consortia-IV is completed in June 2010, there will be three consortia. For the past two years Los Angeles County and the state Office of Systems Integration have been planning for LEADER's replacement. For 2010-11, the budget proposes $45 million ($23 million General Fund) for LEADER replacement. | Consolidate to two consortia in order to reduce system maintenance and support costs and avoid future development and procurement costs for new systems. There are two routes to this goal. The first would be to build the LEADER replacement system while ensuring it is adaptable and scalable so that it could absorb other counties in the future. The second would be to migrate LEADER to the existing C-IV system. Both routes have merit and the Legislature should choose one of these routes. | Detail |
| 3/17/2010 | Healthy Families Program | Reduce eligibility, increase premiums, and scale back benefits. | Adopt the Governor’s premium and vision coverage proposals. Consider the Governor’s eligibility proposal and the LAO alternatives. | Detail |
| 3/15/2010 | Department of Mental Health | Adjust for overbudgeting of state hospital caseload in current year. | Recommend Legislature reduce the Department of Mental Health's 2009-10 state hospital caseload funding by $10.1 million General Fund. | Detail |
| 3/15/2010 | Department of Developmental Services | Governor's Proposed Cuts Increase Demand for Regional Center Services | Conforms to legislative actions on other related budget issues. Our analysis indicates that the cost of maintaining services for regional center consumers could be greater than $300 million General Fund. Recommend Legislature direct administration to provide detailed implementation plan. | 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 |
| 3/8/2010 | Department of Forestry and Fire Protection | Governor's ERI and LAO's Fee Alternative | Our analysis of this issue can be found in our March 8, 2010 budget analysis publication, using the link provided below. | Detail |
| 3/8/2010 | Department of Water Resources | The Davis-Dolwig Act--Fundamental Reform Still Needed | Our analysis of this issue can be found in our March 8, 2010 budget analysis publication, using the link provided below. | Detail |
| 3/8/2010 | Department of Water Resources | Flood Emergency Fund Proposal Problematic on Many Fronts | Our analysis of this issue can be found in our March 8, 2010 budget analysis publication, using the link provided below. | Detail |
| 3/8/2010 | Renewable Energy Programs | Renewable Energy Requirements: Administration Circumventing Legislature's Authority | Our analysis of this issue can be found in our March 8, 2010 budget analysis publication, using the link provided below. | Detail |
| 3/8/2010 | Department of Forestry and Fire Protection | Improving Legislative Oversight of CalFire's Fire Protection Budget | Our analysis of this issue can be found in our March 8, 2010 budget analysis publication, using the link provided below. | Detail |
| 3/8/2010 | State Lands Commission | Tranquillon Ridge Project Merits Legislative Authorization | Our analysis of this issue can be found in our March 8, 2010 budget analysis publication, using the link provided below. | Detail |
| 3/8/2010 | Department of Water Resources | Improving Accountability for DWR's Bond Spending | Our analysis of this issue can be found in our write-up--"A Framework for Evaluating Resources Bond Spending"--found in our March 8, 2010 budget analysis publication, using the link provided below. | Detail |
| 3/8/2010 | Wildlife Conservation Board | Funding for San Joaquin River Conservation (Proposition 40) | The Legislature should withhold its approval of this reappropriation ($11.6 million Proposition 40 bond funds) for San Joaquin River conservation, pending demonstration by the board and the conservancy why appropriating this funding would result in physical projects. (The board has only spent 3 percent [for administration] in 6 years since original $12 million appropriation.) | |
| 3/8/2010 | Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission | Fee Structure for Power Plant Siting Program Should Be Revised | Our analysis of this issue can be found in our March 8, 2010 budget analysis publication, using the link provided below. | Detail |
| 3/8/2010 | Wildlife Conservation Board | Funding for San Joaquin River Conservation (Proposition 84) | The Legislature should withhold its approval of this reappopriation ($11 million Proposition 84 bond funds) for San Joaquin River conservation, pending demonstration by the board and conservancy why appropriating this funding would result in physical projects. (The board has not spent any of the original $11 million appropriation from 2007.) | |
| 3/8/2010 | Wildlife Conservation Board | Funding for Rangeland Grazing and Grassland Protection (Proposition 84) | The Legislature should withhold its approval of this reappropriation ($12 million Proposition 84 bond funds) for rangeland, grazing, and grassland protection activities, pending demonstration by the board why reappropriating this funding would result in physical projects. (The board has only spent 15 percent in the 3 years since original $14.3 million appropriation.) | |
| 3/8/2010 | Wildlife Conservation Board | Funding for Oak Woodlands Conservation Programs (Proposition 84) | The Legislature should withhold its approval of this reappropriation ($13 million Proposition 84 bond funds) for oak woodlands conservation programs, pending demonstration by the board why appropriating this funding would result in physical projects. (The board has spent only 9 percent in the 3 years since original $14.3 million appropriation.) | |
| 3/8/2010 | Crosscutting | Background to Governor's Budget Proposal | Background information and a summary of the Governor's budget proposal for resources and environmental protection programs can be found in our March 8, 2010 budget analysis publication, using the link provided below. | Detail |
| 3/5/2010 | Delta Water Issues | Implementation of the New Legislative Water Package | An overview of the administration's implementation of the new legislative water package, including a summary of the legislation and the Governor's budget proposals, as well as issues for legislative consideration and recommendations. | Detail |
| 3/5/2010 | Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation | Reimbursements to counties for detaining parolees who violate the terms of their parole. | Provide the proposed $86.3 million one-time augmentation to eliminate an existing backlog of unpaid claims to counties for costs incurred in detaining parole violators over a three-year period from 2010-11 to 2012-13, with a first installment of $28.8 million provided in 2010-11. However, in order to avoid the creation of an additional backlog of unpaid claims, approve the Governor's proposed base increase of $15.6 million. | Detail |
| 3/5/2010 | Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation | Reimbursements to counties for certain costs, such as those resulting from crimes committed in state prisons. | Provide the proposed $3.3 million one-time augmentation to eliminate an existing backlog of unpaid claims over a three-year period from 2010-11 to 2012-13, with a first installment of $1.1 million provided in 2010-11. However, in order to avoid the creation of an additional backlog of unpaid claims, approve the Governor's proposed base increase of $2.2 million. | Detail |
| 3/4/2010 | Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation | Reducing juvenile ward and parolee populations. | In order to achieve General Fund savings, the Legislature could the reduce ward and parolee populations at the Division of Juvenile Facilities (DJF) by (1) reducing admissions to DJF, (2) reducing the amount of time wards serve at DJF facilities, and (3) reducing parole caseloads and the number of parole violators returned to DJF. | Detail |
| 3/4/2010 | California Community Colleges | 50 Percent Law | Give districts more ability to hire faculty that provide direct support services to students by including expenditures on counselors and librarians as part of instructional costs. Alternatively, suspend the law until 2012-13. | Detail |
| 3/4/2010 | California Community Colleges | Governor proposes to apply base cuts to two categorical programs and redirect these funds to augment support for the Career Technical Education Pathways Initiative. | Reject the Governor's proposed base cuts. Fund the Pathways Initiative through the Quality Education Investment Act only. | Detail |
| 3/3/2010 | Department of Justice | Funding for legal services. | Modify Governor's proposal to transition General Fund-supported state agencies to a "billable-services" model for the legal services they receive from DOJ by (1) amending the proposed budget control section to specify that any request above $1 million may proceed no sooner than 30 days after notification to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, (2) approving the proposed budget control section process only for 2010-11, and (3) appropriating legal services funding in the budget. | Detail |
| 3/3/2010 | Department of Fish and Game | State Funding for Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Implementation | Recommend suspension of state support ($4.4 million General Fund and $400,000 special funds) for this recent public-private partnership initiative (2004) to help the state implement the Marine Life Protection Act. (see narrative below). | Detail |
| 3/3/2010 | Department of Fish and Game | Funding for CESA Review | Recommend elimination of General Fund support of $2.5 million for CESA review. Legislation gives the department authority to collect fees for its review. A corresponding increase to the department’s fee authority would be necessary. | |
| 3/3/2010 | Department of Fish and Game | Delta-Related Staffing Request | Recommend rejection of 5.2 new positions ($1 million) for department’s Bay Delta Conservation Plan work and development of Delta flow Criteria. (See narrative below.) | Detail |
| 3/3/2010 | Crosscutting | A Framework for Evaluating Resources Bond Spending | We recommend that the Legislature provide extra scrutiny in its evaluation of bond spending proposals, given the state's current fiscal environment. In the narrative below, we update the current status of various resources bond funds, and provide a framework for legislative evaluation of the Governor's bond spending proposals for the budget year. We think that the Legislature should determine its priorities among bond appropriations it approves, and direct the administration accordingly. | 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 |
| 3/2/2010 | Department of Parks and Recreation | Proposed Concession Agreements for Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area. | Recommend approval of five related agreements for off-highway vehicle concessions at Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area. (The Legislature is required to review and approve any proposal or amended concession contract that involves total investment or annual gross sales over $500,000. In past years, the Legislature has provided the required approvals in the Supplemental Report of the Budget Act.) | |
| 3/1/2010 | Department of Transportation | Increased federal environmental workload. | Recommend approval and adopt supplemental report language (SRL) requiring Caltrans to provide workload justification for its staffing level for local assistance once a new federal transportation act is authorized. | Detail |
| 3/1/2010 | Department of Transportation | Limit Caltrans tort liability. | Recommend the Legislature evaluate the proposal on a policy basis rather than as part of the budget process. | Detail |
| 2/26/2010 | Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation | Inmate mental health care staffing. | Reject Governor’s 2010-11 budget proposal for authority to establish 45.4 additional mental health positions as well as to appropriate $9.8 million to support some of these positions, because the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has not made a strong enough case to convert to a new staffing ratio model that would further increase the already significant and growing state costs for in-prison mental health care. | Detail |
| 2/26/2010 | Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation | Activation of the Northern California Reentry Facility. | Reject Governor's proposal to provide $8.4 million in additional General Fund support to activate the Northern California Reentry Facility in 2010-11 with 100 beds, given that the per inmate costs are significantly high and that there are no clear benefits to activating the facility early as proposed. | Detail |
| 2/24/2010 | California Community Colleges | Governor proposes to suspend requirements on the number of full-time faculty that districts must employ (the so-called "75/25 law"). | Adopt the Governor's proposal. | Detail |
| 2/24/2010 | California Community Colleges | Governor proposes to place three currently protected categorical programs (Basic Skills Initiative, Extended Opportunity Programs and Services, and Fund for Student Success) in the community college flex item. | Adopt Governor's proposal. In addition, place the Financial Aid Administration categorical program into the flex item. | Detail |
| 2/24/2010 | California Community Colleges | Enrollment Fees | Raise student fees from $26 per unit to $40 per unit. Use additional revenues generated by the fee increase to fund "overcap" enrollments and reverse the Governor's proposed negative cost-of-living adjustment. Recommended fee increases would not affect financially needy students (because they are eligible to receive full fee waivers) and would be fully offset for most middle-income students (who qualify for federal tax credits). | Detail |
| 2/24/2010 | Capital outlay | Summary of recent and proposed funding for higher education capital outlay projects. The Governor's budget proposal includes no capital outlay projects for UC or CSU, and proposes a limited capital outlay program of four projects for CCC. The proposal states the administration's intent to propose funding for additional higher education facilities in the May Revision, and likely will seek reappropriations for various projects delayed by the state's interim financing freeze and other factors. | We recommend the Legislature exercise heightened scrutiny in reviewing new projects proposed in May and any reappropriation requests, as projects approved in previous years may no longer be high priorities due to the state's fiscal situation and changes in higher education such as declining enrollments. | Detail |
| 2/24/2010 | Higher Education | Overview of changes to higher education funding over past several years. | We find that General Fund support has declined, but much of this reduction has been backfilled with revenue from fee increases and federal stimulus funds. | Detail |
| 2/24/2010 | University of California and California State University | Review of enrollment changes at UC and CSU over past several years. We find that university enrollment has fluctuated over the past two years, with the annual budget acts providing no enrollment targets for the universities. The Governor's proposal would provide $112 million in enrollment augmentations to the universities, but would set enrollment targets below current enrollment levels. | Reject proposed augmentations. It does not make sense to fund enrollment growth when enrollment is not growing. However, elsewhere on this list we recommend the Legislature consider augmentations for the university for the purpose of increasing program quality. | Detail |
| 2/24/2010 | Higher Education | Overview of the Governor's Budget Proposal | The Governor proposes General Fund augmentations for all sectors of higher education. We summarize the proposal with a variety of figures and tables. | Detail |
| 2/24/2010 | California Community Colleges | Overview of changes in student enrollment levels at community colleges over past several years. The Governor proposes a $126 million augmentation to fund 2.2 percent more enrollment slots. | Fund the proposed additional enrollment, but use funding from our recommended student fee increase, rather than a General Fund augmentation. | Detail |
| 2/24/2010 | Higher Education | Overview of affordability issues (fees and financial aid). The Governor's budget assumes a 15 percent fee increase for UC students, a 10 percent increase at CSU, and no change for CCC students. The Governor also proposes to suspend new Cal Grant awards. | We generally find that, even with recent significant increases, fees at all three segments remain well below national averages, and that financial aid has helped offset increased education costs. We recommend no change to the proposed 2010-11 fee increases for UC and CSU. We also recommend a $14-per-unit fee increase for CCC. We recommend rejection of the Governor's Cal Grant cuts, and offer alternatives that would do less damage to the state's financial aid framework. | Detail |
| 2/23/2010 | Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation | Reimbursements to counties for detaining new prison commitments. | Withhold action on the Governor's proposed $10 million one-time General Fund augmentation to reimburse counties for detaining new prison commitments until the May Revision when updated information is available regarding county claims. Also require the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to report at budget hearings on what specific actions it is taking to reduce the number of prison commitments in county jail. | Detail |
| 2/23/2010 | Judiciary | Funding for trial court operations. | Reject Governor's proposed General Fund augmentations totaling $117.9 million for trial courts—$100 million to fully restore a one-time reduction made in 2009-10 and $17.9 million for increased employee benefits costs—given the availability of other funds to support existing trial court operations and the state's current General Fund shortfall. | Detail |
| 2/23/2010 | Employment Development Department | The Governor proposes to borrow $500 million from the Unemployment Compensation Disability Fund to provide training grants and incentive payments to employers as part of his Jobs Package. | Reject the proposal because (1) most of the funding will result in a windfall to businesses that are planning to expand on the natural, (2) over $1 billion in funds for training are already available in the workforce development system, and (3) proposal creates additional borrowing that must be repaid by businesses. | Detail |
| 2/23/2010 | California Department of Education | K-3 Class Size Reduction (CSR) program. | Recommend reducing the 2007-08 K-3 CSR allocation by 20 percent, consistent with other flex programs, then folding the program into the flex item. | Detail |
| 2/23/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes to increase funding for the Charter School Facility Grant program by $18.4 million. Augmentation intended to convert the funding structure of the program from reimbursements to grants. | Continue to fund program on a reimbursement basis, for combined savings of $34 million in 2009-10 and 2010-11. | Detail |
| 2/23/2010 | Crosscutting | Governor's Overall Proposition 98 Funding Plan. | Legislature should consider two alternative courses of action in meeting the Proposition 98 requirements: (1) suspend the Proposition 98 requirement in 2009-10 and 2010-11 or (2) raise additional revenues by $6 billion or cut other spending by $3.2 billion to meet higher current-law funding levels. | Detail |
| 2/23/2010 | Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation | California Out-of-State Correctional Facility (COCF) program. | Reduce Governor's General Fund budget request to expand the COCF program by $547,000 in 2009-10 and $2.1 million in 2010-11, in order to eliminate funding and positions that do not relate directly to the program expansion. Also, consider extending the statutory July 1, 2011 sunset date on involuntary inmate transfers, rather than eliminate the sunset date as proposed by the administration. | Detail |
| 2/23/2010 | Crosscutting | LAO Alternative Proposition 98 Plan. | Recommend the Legislature adopt an alternative Proposition 98 plan that identifies additional ways to reduce state and local costs, expands flexibility for schools, includes comprehensive mandate reform, strategically aligns certain existing program efforts, and seeks opportunities to increase federal aid. | Detail |
| 2/22/2010 | California Department of Education | English Language Acquisition Program (ELAP). | Merge ELAP and its associated funding into the more broad-based Economic Impact Aid program. This would grant school districts greater flexibility to spend the funds on English learner and low-income students of any grade level. | Detail |
| 2/22/2010 | California Department of Education | After School Education and Safety (ASES) program. | Ask voters to repeal certain provisions of Proposition 49 and include ASES funding in K-12 flex item. | Detail |
| 2/22/2010 | California Department of Education | Kindergarten start date. | Change eligibility cutoff date for entering kindergarten from December 2 to September 1, effective for 2011-2012 school year. | Detail |
| 2/22/2010 | California Department of Education | Home-to-School (HTS) Transportation program. | Add the HTS Transportation program and its associated funding (roughly $500 million) to the K-12 flex item. | Detail |
| 2/22/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes to change date of layoff notifications and eliminate layoff hearings. | Recommend giving districts until June 1 to make layoff decisions. Allow for additional layoff window if subsequent budget action results in significant mid-year reductions. | Detail |
| 2/22/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes to remove requirement that school districts base teacher layoff, transfer, and assignment decisions on seniority. | Beginning in 2012, require districts to use performance evaluations in place of seniority for layoff, transfer, and assignment decisions. | Detail |
| 2/22/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes to remove requirements associated with priority and pay for substitute teaching assignments. | Adopt Governor's proposal. | Detail |
| 2/22/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes allowing two additional years of observations before districts must decide to grant permanent status to teachers. | Adopt Governor's proposal. | Detail |
| 2/22/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes allowing districts to issue dismissal notices at any time. | Reject Governor's proposal. | Detail |
| 2/22/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes allowing districts to cease paying salary and benefits upon noticing a teacher of dismissal but requires districts to pay back wages should the teacher prevail in a dismissal hearing. | Recommend adopting Governor's proposal but further requiring districts to pay any interest accrued on foregone salary payments should the teacher prevail. | Detail |
| 2/22/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes to remove four-year limitation on prior evidence in teacher dismissal trials. | Adopt Governor's proposal. | Detail |
| 2/22/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes removing two teacher members from the three-person panel that hears teacher dismissal cases. | Adopt Governor's proposal. | Detail |
| 2/22/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes to make the ruling of the teacher dismissal panel or administrative law judge advisory. Authorizes local governing board to make final decision in teacher dismissal cases. | Reject Governor's proposal. | Detail |
| 2/19/2010 | California Department of Education | The Governor's budget continues to provide $402 million in state funding for the Quality Education Investment Act school improvement program while providing no plan for spending $650 million in federal School Improvement Funds (SIF). | Recommend Legislature create a budget plan for federal SIF monies that ensures all available federal funds are used during the allotted period while also minimizing overlap among state and federal school improvement programs. Aligning state and federal efforts would save $231 million in state funding each year for the next three years. | Detail |
| 2/19/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor does not propose a plan for spending $72 million in one-time federal Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) funding available to help school districts improve their use of data. | Recommend allocating the EETT funds competitively for two purposes. Half of the funds would be awarded to school districts that provide early childhood education to help them collect and analyze pre-kindergarten data, with the other half awarded to districts serving high school students to help them meet new postsecondary and workforce readiness data requirements. | Detail |
| 2/19/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes suspending all but two of the roughly 50 K-14 education mandates that place requirements on school districts and community colleges. | Recommend saving the state over $350 million annually by adopting a comprehensive K-14 mandate reform package that evaluates mandates individually based on their policy merits. | Detail |
| 2/19/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes funding several career technical education (CTE) programs, of which roughly half have detailed programmatic requirements and half have had such requirements removed. | Recommend consolidating all high school CTE funding ($427 million) and eliminating programmatic requirements while monitoring certain related student outcomes. | Detail |
| 2/19/2010 | California Department of Education | California Department of Education (CDE) categorical administration positions | Recommend decreasing CDE’s budget by $5.2 million (70 positions) to account for reduced administrative needs associated with certain categorical programs the state is not currently operating. | Detail |
| 2/19/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes cutting district revenue limits by $1.2 billion and imposing a new cap on noninstructional spending. | Reject proposal, preserve local decision-making power. | Detail |
| 2/19/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes cutting district revenue limits by $300 million and removing some existing restrictions on districts' ability to contract out for noninstructional services. | Approve language to remove restrictions on contracting out but without link to revenue limit reduction. | Detail |
| 2/19/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes cutting county offices of education (COE) revenue limits by $45 million and encouraging consolidation of more functions. | Implement more structured COE regionalization plan. Specifically, reduce each COE's general purpose revenue limit allocation by 10 percent ($33 million) and redirect additional 10 percent into new COE regional revenue limit. | Detail |
| 2/19/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes providing categorical funding to new schools established in 2008-09, 2009-10, or 2010-11. Specifically, the budget proposal includes $20 million in one-time funds and $29 million in ongoing funds. | Clarify eligibility and usage parameters before allocating categorical funds for new schools. | Detail |
| 2/19/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes to apply -0.38 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to most K-12 and child care and development programs (CCD). | Recommend rejecting proposal and instead notwithstanding statutory COLA provisions. Applying a negative COLA after years of not providing positive COLAs is unreasonable. | Detail |
| 2/19/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes lowering reimbursement ceilings for licensed child care providers from 85th percentile to 75th percentile of regional market rates (RMR) using 2005 RMR survey data. | Reject Governor's proposal. Instead use the 2009 RMR survey and set reimbursement ceilings at whatever level is roughly comparable to current-law rates. We estimate this would be at about the 60th percentile of the 2009 RMR. | Detail |
| 2/19/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes lowering reimbursement rate ceilings for license-exempt child care providers from 90 percent to 70 percent of licensed provider rates. | Adopt proposal but base on LAO-recommended licensed provider rates. | Detail |
| 2/19/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes cutting CalWORKS Stage 3 child care by $123 million, eliminating roughly 18,000 slots. | Reject proposal, as it would terminate child care for some of the state's neediest families. Instead, lower eligibility ceilings for CalWORKS Stage 3 child care from 75 percent to 60 percent of state median income, preserving services for state's neediest families. We estimate this would save about $15 million and eliminate about 4,000 slots. | Detail |
| 2/19/2010 | California Department of Education | Non-CalWORKs child care. | Reduce eligibility ceiling from 75 percent to 60 percent of state median income for $115 million savings. Capture $60 million for state savings, redirect $55 million to expand child care access for lowest income families. Results in net loss of about 8,000 slots. | Detail |
| 2/19/2010 | California Department of Education | Economic Impact Aid (EIA) program. | Make technical reduction of $101 million to align funding with declining eligible student count (includes $63 million in one-time 2009-10 savings and $38 million in ongoing 2010-11 savings.) Additionally, free districts from certain regulatory and compliance-related requirements that CDE has developed to guide districts' EIA expenditures. | Detail |
| 2/19/2010 | California Department of Education | Migrant child care. | Make technical adjustment to capture $7 million in unused funds resulting from declining participation. | Detail |
| 2/18/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor seeks $1 billion in one-time federal funding as compensation for the federal government not covering its full share of special education costs. If funds were received, they would be used for general fiscal relief. | Recommend California request that the federal government fully fund the federal 40 percent-of-excess-cost policy and permanently increase federal special education funding for all states. Accordingly, states and school districts should be allowed to reduce their share of costs. | Detail |
| 2/12/2010 | Department of Transportation | The budget requests nine positions and $1.3 million in federal funds per year for ten years to perform bridge load rating evaluations for 6,800 bridges in order to meet federal requirements (BCP #7). | We recommend holding this item open and requiring Caltrans report at budget hearings on alternative ways (and the respective costs) of completing this work more expeditiously, instead of over ten years. | Detail |
| 2/12/2010 | Department of Transportation | The budget requests a one-time augmentation of $57 million from the State Highway Account to replace and retrofit 507 vehicles and pieces of equipment in Caltrans’ fleet in order to comply with several state and local air quality regulations (BCP #6). | We recommend the Legislature direct Caltrans and the Air Resources Board to identify and recommend a more cost-effective plan for meeting air quality regulations. | Detail |
| 2/10/2010 | Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control | The budget proposes to increase general license fees from $12,000 to $13,800 and catering and special event permit fees from $10 to $15 beginning in 2010-11. | Recommend approval of the fee increases. | Detail |
| 2/10/2010 | Crosscutting | Revenue proposals for the 2010-11 budget. | LAO handout summarizing a menu of changes that would increase the state's tax revenues, including recommendations on the Governor's trigger proposals. | Detail |
| 2/10/2010 | Department of Developmental Services | Community Services Program Overbudgeted | Recommend the Legislature reduce the Community Services Program budget to adjust for lower-than-budgeted caseload in the current year. We estimate the program is overbudgeted by $30 million to $40 million General Fund for purchase of services, and by $3.9 million General Fund for regional center operations. | Detail |
| 2/10/2010 | Every Woman Counts (Breast Cancer Early Detection) | Informational handout on Proposition 99 funds and Every Woman Counts | Our office presented an informational handout on Proposition 99, as well as caseload and funding for the Every Woman Counts program, to the Assembly Budget Committee at a February 8, 2010 oversight hearing on the program. | 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 |
| 2/5/2010 | Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation | General Fund expenditures for correctional facilities. | Delete the $23.9 million General Fund appropriation proposed by the Governor for two previously approved capital projects, as well as for planning and minor projects, and instead support these projects from funds already appropriated from the General Fund in Chapter 7, Statutes of 2007 (AB 900, Solorio). | Detail |
| 2/5/2010 | High-Speed Rail Authority - Right-of-Way Agents | The budget requests $190,000 for two right-of-way agent positions to plan, organize, and direct all right-of-way activities. | We withhold recommendation pending the authority’s release of a right-of-way acquisition plan sometime in February 2010. | Detail |
| 2/5/2010 | Department of Transportation - Project Initiation Documents | The budget proposes to shift roughly $4.5 million in funding from the State Highway Account (SHA) now used to support 96.5 positions that develop Project Initiation Documents (PIDs) to reimbursements from local transportation agencies. | We withhold recommendation pending submission of an April Finance Letter ad-dressing the staffing needs for the entire Planning Program. | Detail |
| 2/5/2010 | Department of Transportation - Debt Service | The budget proposes using $57 million in Public Transportation Account (PTA) funds to reimburse the General Fund for transit-related debt service in the current year. | Recommend using $219 million in existing PTA funds for transportation debt ser-vice in the current year to help the General Fund. This includes (1) $140 million in PTA revenues, and (2) $79 million of non-Article XIX-restricted revenues transferred from the State Highway Account (SHA). | Detail |
| 2/4/2010 | Student Aid Commission | Worksheet: Alternative Financial Aid Reductions | We recommend alternatives to the Governor's proposed Cal Grant reductions: 1) Raise minimum GPA for Cal Grant B eligibility to 2.5, 2) Eliminate non-need-based fee waivers, 3) Restrict competitive awards to stipends only. | Detail |
| 2/4/2010 | Crosscutting | Funding for public safety local assistance programs. | Consider redirecting half the revenue from the temporary 0.15 percent increase in the vehicle license fee, which supports various public safety grant programs, to the General Fund. Remaining funds would support a consolidated juvenile justice program at a reduced level. | Detail |
| 2/3/2010 | In-Home Supportive Services | Eliminate IHSS for recipients with functional index scores of less than 4. | Although we find that reductions to the IHSS program are possible, in the short term, we recommend that the Legislature focus its work in the special session on developing a better measure of impairment for IHSS recipients. This measure will help the Legislature make IHSS reduction decisions in the future. | 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 | Department of Motor Vehicles | The budget requests $25 million for working drawings and construction of the (1) Fresno field office replacement and (2) Redding and Oakland field office reconfiguration projects. | Reduce by $23.7 million. Our review of project timelines shows that the DMV will not be able to begin construction for these three projects in the budget year. Recommend that the Legislature approve funding only for the working drawings phase of these projects—Fresno ($1,174,000), Oakland ($155,000) and Redding ($237,000). Construction funding can be provided in the 2011-12 budget without causing project delay. | |
| 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. | |
| 1/29/2010 | SSI/SSP | Reduce monthly grants for SSI/SSP individuals to the federal minimum. | Adopt the Governor's proposal to reduce grants to the federal minimum (a reduction of 1.8 percent). This would result in General Fund savings of $14 million in 2009-10 and $178 million in 2010-11. The Legislature should also consider the option to make SSI/SSP recipients eligible for federal food stamps. | Detail |
| 1/29/2010 | Child Welfare Services/Foster Care/Adoption Assistance | Redirecting county savings to children's programs | Recommend the Legislature and administration work with counties to reach consensus on several issues related to this proposal--including potential mandate issues and interaction with previous realignments--before enacting any further changes to existing cost-sharing ratios for children's programs. | Detail |
| 1/29/2010 | CalWORKs | Reduce grants by 15.7 percent. | Adopt a significant grant reduction on a contingent basis, whereby the cut is only made when the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Contingency Fund (ECF) expires. Expiration of the ECF is set for September 30, 2010 under current law, but the Governor's budget assumes extension through June 30, 2011. | Detail |
| 1/29/2010 | Foster Care | Increased federal eligibility for Foster Care | Recommend the Legislature support the Governor's proposal to pursue federal funding for all Foster Care cases. However, as there is no basis to assume federal eligibility changes will occur any time soon, we also recommend the budget not be adjusted to reflect any savings from this proposal. | Detail |
| 1/29/2010 | CalWORKs Child Care | Child care reimbursement rate reductions | Given the state's fiscal situation, we support the concept of reducing reimbursement rate ceilings. | Detail |
| 1/29/2010 | In-Home Supportive Services | The In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) caseload is overbudgeted | Recognize General Fund savings of $35 million in 2009-10 because we estimate the IHSS caseload to be overstated by 2.5 percent in the current year. | Detail |
| 1/29/2010 | Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI) | Eliminate CAPI effective June 1, 2010, resulting in savings of $8.1 million in 2009-10 and $107.3 million in 2010-11. | Modify program in order to achieve savings of at least half the level proposed by the Governor. | Detail |
| 1/29/2010 | California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) | Eliminate CFAP effective June 1, 2010, resulting in savings of $3.8 million in 2009-10 and $56.2 million in 2010-11. | Modify program in order to achieve savings of at least half the level proposed by the Governor. | Detail |
| 1/29/2010 | CalWORKs | Eliminate CalWORKs services and grants for recent legal noncitizens effective June 1, 2010. This results in savings $0.7 million in 2009-10 and $21.8 million in 2010-11. | Make any reduction contingent on the expiration of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Contingency Funds (ECF) contingent upon expiration of the ECF. Under current law, the ECF expires on September 30, 2010, but the Governor's budget assumes it is extended until June 30, 2011. | Detail |
| 1/29/2010 | In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) | Reduce state participation in IHSS provider wages | Temporarily reduce state participation in provider wages and benefits to $8.60 per hour. The LAO will report to the Legislature if utilization of authorized hours appears to be affected by the reduction in state participation. This is estimated to result in General Fund savings of $57 million in 2009-10 and $651 million in 2010-11. | Detail |
| 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 |
| 1/27/2010 | Healthy Families Program | Caseload. | Recommend no caseload adjustment at this time. | Detail |
| 1/26/2010 | University of California and California State University | The Governor proposes a constitutional amendment to (1) require at least 10 percent of annual state General Fund appropriations to be spent on the public universities and (2) limit state spending on corrections to no more than 7 percent of General Fund appropriations. (Note: Subsequent to our publication, the Governor modified his proposal to include Cal Grants in the higher ed funding subject to the 7 percent floor.) | We urge the Legislature to reject this proposal because it (1) would unwisely constrain the state's ability to allocate funding where it is most needed each year; and (2) is unnecessary, as the state already has the ability to shift funding among programs without this constitutional amendment. | Detail |
| 1/26/2010 | Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation | The Governor proposes a constitutional amendment to (1) require at least 10 percent of annual state General Fund appropriations to be spent on the public universities and (2) limit state spending on corrections to no more than 7 percent of General Fund appropriations. | We urge the Legislature to reject this proposal because it (1) would unwisely constrain the state's ability to allocate funding where it is most needed each year; and (2) is unnecessary, as the state already has the ability to shift funding among programs without this constitutional amendment. | 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 |
| 1/25/2010 | Department of Transportation | The budget proposes to permanently increase Caltrans’ operating expenses by $5.7 million from the State Highway Account to pay for the increased cost of fuel used to operate the department’s vehicles and equipment (BCP #1). | Hold this item open until May when updated fuel price estimates will be available. | |
| 1/25/2010 | Department of Transportation | The budget requests one-time funding of $8.5 million from the State Highway Account to pay attorney’s fees as part of the settlement of recent litigation against Caltrans regarding violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (BCP #16). | Hold this item open until May, by that time the court is expected to decide the specific amount of attorney’s fees that Caltrans will owe. | |
| 1/24/2010 | Student Aid Commission | Cal Grant Competitive Awards Program | Recommend Legislature consider alternatives to Governor's proposed suspension of competitive Cal Grant awards. Alternatives for achieving General Fund savings include: 1) Increase minimum GPA for Cal Grant B eligibility from 2.0 to 2.5. 2) Eliminate non-need-based fee waivers. 3) Limit new competitive awards to fixed stipends ("access awards") These measures could provide comparable savings while preserving the structure of the state's financial aid system. | Detail |
| 1/24/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor's 2010-11 Proposition 98 budget proposal. | LAO initial assessment of Governor's 2010-11 Proposition 98 budget proposal. | Detail |
| 1/24/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes special session action to reduce 2009-10 Proposition 98 spending by $568 million. Of this amount $340 million is associated with savings from the K-3 Class Size Reduction program and $228 million is associated with K-12 revenue limit savings. | Given several major factors remain uncertain, Legislature may want to wait until it has better information before making midyear Proposition 98 reductions. | Detail |
| 1/24/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes to make a partial 2010-11 prepayment for the Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA) program. Specifically, proposes to pay $250 million of K-12 program costs in June 2010. | Recommend Legislature decide this issue as part of a comprehensive Proposition 98 package. Given several major factors remain uncertain, Legislature may want to wait until it has better information to build this comprehensive package. | Detail |
| 1/24/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes to increase funding for the Charter School Facility Grant program by $18.4 million. Augmentation intended to convert the funding structure of the program from reimbursements to grants. | Additional funding for program is consistent with recently enacted legislation. Action is time-sensitive as additional funding would support 2009-10 costs. | Detail |
| 1/24/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes special session action to provide $20 million in categorical funding for new schools opened in 2008-09 and 2009-10. | Providing such funding for new schools in growing districts is reasonable. Action is time-sensitive as funding intended to support prior- and current-year activities. | Detail |
| 1/24/2010 | California Department of Education | Governor proposes to achieve $77 million in Proposition 98 savings by reducing reimbursement rates for child care voucher-based programs. Specifically, lowers reimbursement for licensed child care providers from 85th percentile of regional market rate to 75th percentile. Also lowers reimbursement for license-exempt providers from 90 percent of licensed rate to 70 percent of rate. Uses 2005 survey. | Recommend using most recent survey data (2009) to reflect actual conditions in child care market, then setting rates at a level the state can afford. | Detail |
| 1/24/2010 | Crosscutting | The 2010-11 Budget: How the Special Session Actions Would Affect Health Programs | In this report we make several recommendations regarding the Governor's special session budget proposals. | Detail |
| 1/23/2010 | Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation | Jail time instead of prison for specified felonies. | Approve Governor's special proposal to require that certain offenders convicted of specified property and drug felony crimes serve a maximum sentence of 366 days in county jail in lieu of a state prison sentence, but modify it to (1) permit counties to place additional jail inmates on electronic home monitoring and (2) clarify that offenders who are charged with the specified crimes and have prior serious or violent offenses could still be tried for a misdemeanor, as is currently the case. | Detail |
| 1/23/2010 | Department of Forestry and Fire Protection | Governor's proposed emergency response initiative. | Reject proposed surcharge on property insurance policies statewide as a funding mechanism for the state's wildland fire protection and other emergency response activities. Delay decisions on proposed program expansions until later budget year when they would take effect. We offer an alternative fee proposal to partially fund CalFire's wildland fire protection services. | Detail |
| 1/23/2010 | Crosscutting | Governor's resources-related special session proposals. | The Governor has three major special session proposals in the resources area that have substantial General Fund implications, both positively and negatively, and that each involve significant policy choices for the Legislature. The Governor also proposes changes to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) as part of his "Jobs Package." | Detail |
| 1/23/2010 | Judiciary | Automated speed enforcement. | Approve Governor's proposal to authorize local governments to use automated enforcement systems to identify individuals driving greater than the speed limit, but modify it to (1) establish fines identical to existing speeding fines, (2) deposit state's share of the revenues to the General Fund, and (3) increase oversight of fine collections. Also, consider changing how revenues would be allocated between the state and local governments and modifying the amount of projected fine revenues. | Detail |
| 1/23/2010 | Department of Health Care Services: Medi-Cal | Eliminate full-scope Medi-Cal benefits for certain immigrants. | Adopt the Governor’s proposal to eliminate full-scope benefits for adult newly qualified immigrants and PRUCOLs. As an alternative, benefits could be eliminated prospectively. | Detail |
| 1/23/2010 | Department of Health Care Services: Medi-Cal | Expand anti-fraud activities. | Adopt the proposed General Fund savings of $21.7 million associated with the antifraud activities focused on physicians and pharmacies. We do not recommend the approval of any additional staff to conduct these activities. | Detail |
| 1/23/2010 | Department of Health Care Services: Medi-Cal | Roll back rate increase for family planning services. | Reduce General Fund expenditures by $15.4 million in 2010-11, given the state’s fiscal difficulties. | Detail |
| 1/23/2010 | Department of Health Care Services: Medi-Cal | Caseload likely overstated in current year. | Reduce 2009-10 General Fund expenditures in Medi-Cal by $35 million to reflect the likely overstatement of the current-year caseload. | Detail |
| 1/23/2010 | Department of Health Care Services: California Children's Services | Align eligibility reduction with the Healthy Families Program. | Conform changes in California Children's Services (CCS) eligibility with changes made to eligibility in the Healthy Families Program. | Detail |
| 1/22/2010 | Department of Developmental Services | Extend the 3 percent provider payment reduction. | Recommend Legislature approve an extension of the 3 percent provider payment reduction. Given the state's fiscal condition, we think this is a reasonable proposal. | Detail |
| 1/22/2010 | Department of Mental Health | Ballot measure to amend the Mental Health Services Act (Proposition 63). | Recommend the Legislature consider options such as this one to increase its flexibility to respond to the state's fiscal crisis. | Detail |
| 1/22/2010 | Department of Developmental Services | Title XX block grant. | Conform to DSS, since the Title XX block grant is budgeted in DSS. There would be no impact from this fund shift on DDS programs and services. | Detail |
| 1/22/2010 | Department of Justice | Increased penalty assessment for forensic laboratories. | The Governor's special session proposal to increase an existing penalty assessment and expand the use of the assessment revenues to include non-DNA laboratories operated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) merits legislative consideration. Alternatively, the Legislature could require DOJ to charge local governments for the forensic services they provide. | Detail |
| 1/22/2010 | Crosscutting | The budget proposes to eliminate the state's 6 percent sales tax on fuel. The proposal also increases the state's excise tax on fuel by 10.8 cents per gallon in 2010-11, which would generate roughly $1 billion less in revenues than under current law. The new excise tax revenues would fund a different mix of transportation purposes, including paying for a substantial portion of the state’s transportation bond debt service on an ongoing basis, while eliminating transit-related funding. | The Governor’s proposal has merit due to the ongoing General Fund benefit. We recommend that the Legislature consider modified versions of the proposal that would likewise achieve ongoing General Fund benefit but would also maintain funding for transportation purposes at or near current levels to fund the state’s substantial transportation needs. | Detail |
| 1/22/2010 | California Children and Families First Commission | Ballot measure to reprioritize Proposition 10 funds | Recommend the Legislature adopt the Governor's proposal to ask the voters to prioritize the use of Proposition 10 funds to support core children's programs and services. Moreover, the Legislature may wish to go beyond the Governor’s proposal by considering additional alternatives to (1) redirect additional funding for these purposes; and/or (2) make the temporary redirections of funding permanent. | Detail |
| 1/22/2010 | Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation | Adult prison population caseload. | Reduce funding for adult prison population caseload by (1) $7.2 million in 2009-10 because actual data for the first half of the current year indicate that the population will be roughly 300 inmates lower on an annual basis than assumed in the Governor's budget for the current year and (2) $14.4 million in 2010-11 to correct a technical error in the department's population projections for the budget year. | |
| 1/22/2010 | Department of Health Care Services: Medi-Cal | Budget assumes savings from unspecified cost containment strategies. | Withhold recommendation until the administration provides a detailed proposal for implementing these cost containment measures. | Detail |
| 1/22/2010 | Department of Health Care Services: Medi-Cal | Eliminate adult day health care. | Adopt the Governor’s proposal to eliminate the ADHC benefit due to the state's continuing poor fiscal situation and the need for immediate savings. We further recommend that the Legislature direct the administration to develop a savings estimate that incorporates DHCS’ administrative savings and fully identifies the cost shifts that would result from the elimination of ADHC. | Detail |
| 1/22/2010 | Department of Health Care Services: Medi-Cal | Defer institutional provider payments. | Deny the Governor's request to defer institutional provider payments in the current year because the implicit cost of this deferral is too high due to the prompt pay penalty. The Legislature may wish to consider this option at a later time in the budget year when it is unlikely that the state would face such a penalty. | Detail |
| 1/22/2010 | Department of Parks and Recreation | Governor's proposal to fund state parks with Tranquillon Ridge oil and gas lease revenues. | Legislature should evaluate Tranquillon Ridge project on its merits, rather than as an opportunity to fund state parks. On balance, the project merits legislative approval. If the Legislature approves the project, it should maintain flexibility in the potential use of revenues, instead of dedicating the revenues for state park purposes. | Detail |
| 1/22/2010 | Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery | Beverage container recycling program--Governor's special session proposals | We recommend that the Legislature act on three current-year issues during the special session: (1) adopt proposed statutory change to accelerate submittal by beverage distributors of CRV revenues into the fund; (2) prevent proposed early repayment by General Fund of loans made from fund; (3) make statutory change to restructure payments out of the fund to make recyclers "whole" (that is provide full payments for 2009-10), directing remaining funds to legislative priorities. | Detail |