February 9, 2022 - This budget post describes the Governor’s 2022-23 budget proposals for the Office of Planning and Research and provides comments and recommendations to the Legislature.
June 14, 2010 - Recently, there has been significant legislative and public interest in the state’s Every Woman Counts (EWC) program for breast cancer early detection. We provide background on the EWC program and other state breast cancer programs and describe the recent history of the program, including caseload and funding trends and recent program changes. We also recommend the Legislature adopt a modified version of the Governor’s May Revision cost containment proposals, consider redirecting existing funding for research to direct clinical services, and improve transparency and oversight by requiring the administration to prepare a formal budget estimate for the EWC program.
February 15, 2018 - In this report, we first provide background on online education at the California Community Colleges (CCC), California State University (CSU), and University of California (UC). We then describe the Governor’s proposal to create a new intersegmental online program, assess that proposal, and make an associated recommendation.
February 24, 2014 - In order to minimize the negative economic impact of cap-and-trade, it is important that auction revenues be invested in a way that maximizes GHG emission reductions for a given level of spending. In reviewing the Governor's proposed expenditure plan, we find that there is significant uncertainty regarding the degree to which each investment proposed for funding will achieve GHG reductions. This uncertainty is the result of several factors, including there being only limited data and analysis provided by the administration, as well as the fact that the level of emission reductions achieved would depend on the specific projects funded by departments. Given these concerns, we recommend that the Legislature direct ARB to develop metrics for departments to use in order to prospectively evaluate the potential GHG emission benefits of proposed projects, as well as direct the board to establish a set of guidelines for how departments should incorporate these metrics into their decision making processes.
May 10, 2022 - The Office of Planning and Research (OPR) is tasked by state law to support statewide planning and research activities. Among its many activities, the office has overseen certain higher education initiatives. This post analyzes three higher education OPR proposals in the Governor’s January budget for 2022‑23 related to the California Education Learning Laboratory, the Golden State Awards, and Carnegie Science.
February 5, 2021 - This publication provides detailed information and our initial comments on each component of the Governor's 2021-22 package of proposals—totaling $1 billion—to reduce the risk of severe and damaging wildfires. (See also our publication The 2021-22 Budget: Wildfire Resilience Package for an overview of and our initial comments on the package.)
March 1, 2018 - Proposition 55 (2016) aimed to increase funding for Medi-Cal under a formula administered by the Department of Finance. In 2018-19, the first year of implementation of this calculation, the administration’s interpretations and estimates result in no additional funds to Medi-Cal. Two key choices lead to this result. First, the administration’s decision to subtract $3.5 billion from available revenues to account for its proposed optional reserve deposit significantly reduces the calculation’s starting point, eliminating a surplus that would have directed funds to Medi-Cal. Second, the administration’s workload budget approach is based on a broad definition of currently authorized services, which also has the effect of reducing the amount of potential funds for Medi-Cal under the measure. Different decisions about these two features of the measure could result in more or less funding for Medi-Cal by hundreds of millions—or even billions—of dollars in the future.
February 8, 2021 - Presented to: Assembly Budget Subcommittee No.1 On Health and Human Services Hon. Dr. Joaquin Arambula, Chair
February 5, 2021 - This publication describes how coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spending is reflected in the California Department of Public Health’s budget. It offers options for how the Legislature can express its COVID-19-related goals and priorities in light of the administration’s reliance on midyear budget adjustments, provides an evaluative framework for assessing the administration’s proposals, and recommends an after-action review of the state’s public health response.