Legislative Analyst's Office Analysis of the 2001-02 Budget Bill

Commission on Correctional Peace Officer Standards and Training (5480)

The Commission on Correctional Peace Officers' Standards and Training (CPOST) is a joint management-employee panel responsible for establishing job training standards for correctional staff and monitoring compliance with those standards. The commission administers the correctional peace officer apprenticeship program. It develops, approves, and monitors selection and training standards applied by the Departments of Corrections (CDC) and the Youth Authority. The panel also issues decisions on complaints or recommendations from interested parties on its rules, regulations, standards, or decisions.

The budget proposes $2.4 million in expenditures from the General Fund, which is an increase of $52,000, or 2 percent, over estimated current-year spending. The increase is due to a proposal to expand support for facility costs.

No Basis for Augmentation for Facilities Increase

We recommend deletion of a proposed augmentation of $142,000 for facility costs because the department received a substantial augmentation for facility needs for new positions in the current year. In addition, the department is not requesting any additional positions which would justify a facility increase nor has it identified any specific rent increases. (Reduce Item 5480-001-0001 by $142,000.)

Each year, the CPOST budget contains a base allocation for facility rents, known as the "base facility allocation." This allocation is based on a formula used to calculate the cost of additional facility space, including rent, for existing and proposed positions. In the current year, the ongoing amount for the base facility allocation is $122,000. This amount includes an increase of $82,000 provided in the 2000-01 Budget Act to support the facility space needs of 17 new positions.

Budget Proposal. The Governor's budget proposes an ongoing increase in the base allocation of $142,000. This would bring the allocation to $264,000, which is an increase of 116 percent over current-year expenditures.

Our primary concern with this proposal is that the department received a facilities augmentation in the current year to accommodate the space needs of budgeted new positions. The department now is asking for a sizeable augmentation for its base facility allocation in spite of the fact that it is not requesting any additional positions in the budget year. According to the department, this increase is necessary because the estimates on which its allocation is based failed to take into account all of its facility needs and increased leasing costs. The department, however, has not demonstrated specific rent increases for individual facilities. In the absence of an identified need for increased facility funding that is tied to new positions or specific rent increases, we find the augmentation unjustified.

Analyst's Recommendation. We recommend the Legislature delete the requested increase of $142,000 for an ongoing facilities augmentation because the department already received a facilities augmentation in conjunction with last year's staffing increase and has not identified specific facility rent increases.