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1,015 Publications Found
January 11, 2007 - Each campus and medical center of the University of California (UC) periodically develops a long range development plan (LRDP) that guides its physical development--based on academic goals and projected student enrollment levels--for an established time horizon. This report reviews the process used by UC to prepare LRDPs and analyzes whether it adequately addresses the impacts that campus growth has on surrounding communities. We generally found a lack of accountability, standardization, and clarity in the current process, and recommend steps to make the process more transparent and effective (such as ensuring greater legislative oversight and public involvement in the development of an LRDP).
January 4, 2007 - Although the state licenses about 58,000 child care facilities serving up to 1.2 million children, there is little information readily available to parents about the safety and quality of this care. This report describes options to improve the availability of such information. We recommend that the availability of existing information be improved and that ratings be established based on a provider’s safety history.
June 6, 2006 - Chapter 665, Statutes of 2001 (AB 793, Cox) requires the LAO to report to the Legislature on the use of best value procurement by Municipal Utility Districts. Based on the limited experience to date, it appears that the best value procurement authority provides municipal utility districts with an important tool. The one district that has used the authority—SMUD—reports major benefi ts and we are not aware of any signifi cant downsides. Accordingly, we recommend that the Legislature extend the law which authorizes this practice beyond the current January 1, 2007 sunset date.
May 3, 2006 - Despite reform attempts, California continues to lag the nation in the collection of child support and in its performance on federal outcome measures. We recommend creating a performance-based system which gives counties the flexibility and financial incentives to meet state-established performance benchmarks. If enacted, our proposed reforms would (1) likely increase the amount of child support collected on behalf of custodial parents and (2) restore accountability to the child support enforcement system.
May 2, 2006 - In 2004, California temporarily extended, from 90 days to one year, the time that recently purchased vessels, vehicles, and aircraft must be kept out of California in order to avoid the state’s use tax. This report looks at the economic and fiscal impacts of the law change. We find that (1) the law change has resulted in a sharp reduction in out-of-state usage exemptions and an increase in sales and use tax revenues, and (2) the negative economic impacts arising from the measure do not appear to be particularly large.
April 27, 2006 - State law establishes the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) and entrusts it with accrediting teacher preparation programs, credentialing teachers, and monitoring teacher conduct. In this report, we describe each of these three teacher-quality functions, identify related shortcomings, and propose various recommendations for overcoming them. The recommendations seek to simplify existing teacher-quality processes, reduce redundancies, strengthen accountability, and foster greater coherence among education reforms. Taken as a package, these recommendations would improve how the state ensures teacher quality and eliminate CTC.
April 26, 2006 - The state has long recognized its responsibility to protect the general health and safety of the people of California. To protect Californians from hazards posed by waste facilities and surface mines, the state’s environmental regulatory agencies require financial assurances from the owners/operators of these facilities-evidence that these parties have the financial capacity to restore public resources that they degrade. This report details California’s existing financial assurance requirements, examines shortcomings with the current financial assurance system, and recommends improvements. Adoption of our recommendations should decrease the likelihood that financial assurances will fail to serve their public purpose, thereby reducing the state’s exposure to significant financial risk in the future.
March 30, 2006 - For over 20 years, San Diego region residents and local officials have debated whether their network of local and regional governmental agencies is well suited to addressing the region’s growing challenges. Some previous studies have found shortcomings in the region’s “governance system” and recommended changes, including modifications to the region’s council of governments (SANDAG). Chapter 743, Statutes of 2002 (SB 1703, Peace) and Chapter 508, Statutes of 2003 (AB 361, Kehoe), directed the Legislative Analyst's Office to study the San Diego region’s governance system and provide options for improving its accountability and effectiveness.
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March 28, 2006 - Year-to-year changes in the state’s higher education costs are greatly influenced by changes in student enrollment levels. Each year as part of the annual budget process, the Legislature must determine (1) how many additional students will enroll at the University of California and the California State University and (2) how much it will cost to serve those additional students. This report reviews factors that influence enrollment growth and the current methodology of calculating the “marginal cost” of serving additional students. Specifically, for 2006-07, we recommend, first, funding 2 percent enrollment growth at UC and CSU and second, revising the current methodology for calculating the marginal cost of enrolling an additional student, in order to more accurately budget for these expenses.
February 17, 2006 - The costs of providing health care to retired state employees and their dependents—now approaching $1 billion per year—are increasing significantly. Many other public employers (including the University of California, school districts, cities, and counties) face similar pressures. This report discusses health benefits provided to retired public employees, focusing on state retirees. We find that the current method of funding these benefits defers payment of these costs to future generations. Retiree health liabilities soon will be quantified under new accounting standards, but state government liabilities are likely in the range of $40 billion to $70 billion-and perhaps more. This report describes actions that the Legislature could take to address these costs.
February 15, 2006 - The Migrant Education Program is a federally funded program that provides supplemental education services to migrant children. This report reviews the state’s implementation of the program. We find that the state could better target resources and better serve migrant students by implementing a comprehensive package of reforms. Specifically, we recommend a number of modifications related to the program’s: (1) funding and service model, (2) data system, and (3) carryover funding process. We also identify funding available to help in implementing these changes. (The California Department of Education has translated this report into Spanish. El Departamento de Educación de California ha traducido este informe al español.)
January 27, 2006 - In recent years, the prevalence of illegal or “abusive” tax shelters (ATS) has increased dramatically. These ATS transactions have resulted in very substantial revenue losses in California. Despite the success of an amnesty program (known as the voluntary compliance initiative program), the problems posed by ATSs have not been fully resolved. In fact, it is likely that ATSs will continue to pose tax-related policy issues for the state. Given this, it will be important that the Legislature stay on top of the ATS situation. As one approach to accomplishing this, it may want to periodically review FTB’s ATS-related activities, including how well it is allocating its budgeted resources to get the best return on ATS activities and informing the Legislature about programmatic changes that will help address the ATS problem. (Prepared in accordance with Chapter 654, Statutes of 2003 (AB 1601, Frommer), and Chapter 656, Statutes of 2003 (SB 614, Cedillo).)
January 26, 2006 - In 2004, we published A Look at the Progress of English Learner Students, which analyzed the 2002 results of the California English Language Development Test (CELDT). This update assesses student performance on the test in 2003 and 2004, concluding that gains made by students in 2003 and 2004 are roughly the same as 2002. We also make two recommendations for steps the Legislature can take to improve the way CELDT data are used.