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4,622 Publications Found
March 12, 2004 - Presented to the Assembly Committee on State Mandates on March 8, 2004.
March 8, 2004 - Presented to Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 1 on March 8, 2004.
March 4, 2004 - Today, the Medi-Cal Program offers a paradox: aged and disabled beneficiaries who would benefit the most from the improved health care that can come from receiving coordinated care have largely been excluded from Medi-Cal managed care. To improve health care for this group and reduce Medi-Cal expenditures, we recommend shifting an estimated 330,000 aged or disabled persons from the fee-for-service system to Medi-Cal managed care.
February 24, 2004 - Index of Information Technology Issues in the Analysis of the Budget Bill, 2004-05
February 18, 2004 - The Williamson Act allows cities and counties to enter into contracts with landowners to restrict certain property to open space and agricultural uses. In return for these restrictions, the property owners pay reduced property taxes because the land is assessed at a lower-than-maximum level. We recommend that the Legislature provide for the gradual elimination of payments to local governments for the local revenue losses associated with Williamson Act contracts.
February 18, 2004 - The prior administration’s action to increase the VLF and the current administration’s subsequent action to reverse that increase have resulted in a number of issues of concern to the Legislature, including (1) the amount of VLF backfill that local governments did not receive during the current year “gap” period, (2) the amount of the backfill loan to the state from local governments, and (3) the amount of backfill to be provided to local governments experiencing hardship. We review the status of these issues and recommend that the State Controller provide information to the Legislature regarding the status of VLF backfill payments and gap period revenues. Accordingly, we withhold recommendation on the administration’s proposal to provide $51 million in local government hardship funding. We also recommend that the Legislature adopt the administration’s proposal to retain the current vehicle depreciation schedule adopted in conjunction with the 1991 program realignment.
February 18, 2004 - As part of its general plan, every city and county is required to prepare a "housing element" which assesses the conditions of its housing stock and outlines a five-year plan for housing development. This mandate costs much more than the Legislature expected and does not ensure the construction of affordable housing. We recommend that the Legislature eliminate the mandate.
February 18, 2004 - Booking fees are charges imposed on cities, special districts, school districts, colleges, and universities to recover the costs associated with booking persons into the county jail. County authority to impose booking fees gives local agencies incentives to use county booking and detention services wisely and efficiently. Eliminating this incentive likely would result in significant increases to county costs, without any identifiable gain to public safety. We recommend the Legislature maintain county authority to impose booking fees.
February 18, 2004 - The University of California (UC) receives billions of dollars a year from faculty research contracts and grants (primarily with the federal government and private companies and organizations). Included in this revenue is hundreds of millions of dollars that the university charges for the use of facilities for this research. Because UC has the ability to recover these costs, we recommend the construction of new faculty research facilities be funded from this nonstate revenue.
February 18, 2004 - We recommend that the Legislature require a well-researched problem, a demonstrable net benefit, and built-in evaluations when considering any future proposals for state economic development programs. This would allow the Legislature to be more certain of the effectiveness of proposed programs.
February 18, 2004 - The administration proposes a constitutional amendment to expand the circumstances in which the state can contract with private entities. We provide guidelines the Legislature may want to consider as it evaluates the administration's proposal. We refer to a report published in our 1996 Perspectives and Issues in which we found that carefully managed privatization can, under the right circumstances, provide specialized expertise, save money, and/or result in improved service delivery. Poorly managed privatization, or privatization under the wrong circumstances, however, can lose money and result in poor service delivery.
February 18, 2004 - In March 2003, the Department of Finance began a statewide assessment of 117 state information technology (IT) projects. The results of the assessment indicate that departments are having problems (1) developing their IT projects and (2) adhering to state policies. Our analysis examines the assessment results, identifies some possible deficiencies in the state's IT processes, and makes recommendations on how the Legislature can address the deficiencies.
February 18, 2004 - To reduce budget costs, the administration proposes to issue bonds to finance almost $1 billion in scheduled retirement contributions. A Superior Court has thus far prevented the state from issuing such bonds. Regardless of its legality, incurring decades worth of debt to avoid an annual operating expense is poor fiscal policy. We recommend the Legislature reject the administration’s proposal. The administration also proposes having current employees contribute more of their salaries to retirement. The idea is worth pursuing in collective bargaining, but the Legislature should be aware of what this provision might cost the state in return. For new employees, the administration proposes rolling back retirement benefits to those in place in 1999. We recommend that the Legislature also consider alternatives such as Tier 2 and defined contribution plans for all new employees. These alternatives would result in more state savings and benefits compared to the administration’s proposal.
February 18, 2004 - The California Department of Food and Agriculture's management of 500 permanent positions needs significant revision. We recommend that the Legislature adopt trailer bill language to specify that the department's continuous appropriations do not exempt it from the normal position approval process. We also recommend that the department establish permanent positions with the State Controller's Office and submit budget requests through the Department of Finance and the Legislature for all of its future staffing needs. Finally, we recommend budget bill language requiring the department to report on these permanent blanket positions by December 2004.