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4,622 Publications Found
February 18, 2004 - The budget proposes to impose a new fee on timber owners to partially cover the costs incurred by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDFFP) in its review and enforcement of timber harvest plans (THPs) beginning in the current year. While this is a step in the right direction, we recommend the enactment of fee legislation that would go further by fully funding the costs of CDFFP and all other state agencies with THP review responsibilities.
February 18, 2004 - Development in and around floodplains has contributed to increased losses due to floods, but the state’s efforts to improve floodplain management have been reduced significantly in recent years. We recommend reducing the state’s share of funding for certain flood control projects to better reflect the local benefit from these projects. This would create future savings that could be used to make more strategic flood management investments and benefit the General Fund.
February 18, 2004 - The CALFED Bay-Delta Program—with a projected $6 billion funding gap—is at a funding crossroads. To date, the state has been the biggest funding contributor by far to the program, with federal and local governments and water users lagging in their support. We recommend a funding framework for CALFED that applies the beneficiary pays principle, including a fee on water users that take water from the Bay-Delta system.
February 18, 2004 - State transportation funding has not kept pace with increasing travel for various reasons, including the fund transfers noted above. Stabilizing transportation funding would increase the efficiency of transportation expenditures. We recommend the Legislature (1) ask voters to repeal Proposition 42, (2) replace the lost transportation revenue with an increase in the gas tax, and (3) index the gas tax to prevent future erosion of transportation revenues relative to travel demand.
February 18, 2004 - In both the mid-year cuts submitted in November 2003 and in the 2004-05 Governor's Budget, the administration has proposed to use a number of transportation funds to provide about $2 billion in one-time General Fund aid over the current and budget years. This includes suspending in 2004-05 the transfer of $1.1 billion derived from the sales tax on gasoline to the Transportation Investment Fund.
February 18, 2004 - The customer service, driver safety, and cost effectiveness of the DMV’s driver licensing process can be improved. We recommend the department report at budget hearings on the viability of making administrative changes to reduce the millions of in-person visits at field offices. We further recommend the enactment of legislation for various fees to encourage fewer in-person visits at field offices and offset costs related to the program.
February 18, 2004 - Every year over 30 million customers visit the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) field offices. Staff reductions in recent years have caused average customers wait times to grow significantly, from 35 minutes in 2001-02 to a projected 80 minutes in 2004-05. We recommend that the Legislature reexamine the levels of service to be provided by DMV. If the Legislature determines that current wait times and overall service levels are unacceptable, we recommend the Legislature restore selected field office positions
February 18, 2004 - Pavement maintenance protects the taxpayers’ investment in the highway system and can reduce long-term costs by postponing the need for more expensive roadway rehabilitation. Poorly maintained roadways increase costs to motorists for vehicle repair, costing drivers in Los Angeles or San Jose an average of more than $700 a year for instance. There is now a backlog of $587 million in pavement maintenance work. We recommend Caltrans refocus its maintenance efforts by developing an investment plan for highway maintenance. We also recommend Caltrans develop performance measures that link the state’s investment to the resulting quality of the highway system.
February 18, 2004 - In this piece, we present options for the Legislature's consideration. We have identified expenditures that may be considered of lower priority in tough budget times. It is not that these activities are without merit or not desirable. In better fiscal times we would not necessarily put such options on the table. However, we offer them in the context of a need to solve a massive budget shortfall. We have also identified selected revenue options for the Legislature's consideration. These options generally involve tax expenditure programs which are either inefficient at achieving their objectives or are not the most efficient means of doing so.
February 18, 2004 - The current level of abusive tax shelters (ATS) activity—and its potential for future expansion—raises significant administrative challenges for FTB and for the continued viability of the state's revenue system. The use of ATSs not only results in significant immediate term revenue losses to California—in the hundreds of millions of dollars annually—but can also result in declining compliance by an increasing number of taxpayers over the longer term. While the Legislature has taken important steps to curtail the use of ATSs, it may want to consider additional measures in this regard. This discussion provides an overview of the ATS phenomenon, addresses the impacts of such shelters on the state, and suggests measures the Legislature may want to consider to address the ATS problem.
February 18, 2004 - The administration's budget summary outlines ideas for changing the mandate system. While these ideas have merit, they do not go far enough to correct the structural problems inherent in the existing system. We identify six areas of concern that merit legislative consideration in any reform proposal.
February 18, 2004 - We describe the current Medi-Cal health care delivery system and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses in regard to addressing the health care needs of the aged and disabled. We identify additional aged and disabled persons that would benefit from receiving care from managed care plans. We recommend the enactment of legislation directing the Department of Health Services (DHS) to gradually shift an estimated 330,000 aged or disabled persons from the fee-for-service system to the Medi-Cal managed care system. We further recommend strengthening the existing Medi-Cal managed care system to address problems that limit the ability of DHS to ensure access to services and quality of care.
February 18, 2004 - The Constitution gives the Legislature the power to appropriate funds. In order to address unexpected expenses (or "deficiencies") that arise during a fiscal year, the Legislature provides the administration with limited authority to spend at higher rates than foreseen in the budget act. The use of this deficiency process, however, has a history of problems—from being used to establish new programs with no statutory authority to serving as an alternative to the normal state budget process. Given this history, we outline a framework for legislative consideration which identifies a new approach to meet unexpected expenses. In our view, this framework would continue to allow necessary adjustments, while better protecting the appropriation authority of the Legislature.
February 18, 2004 - Similar to the 1990s, the budget proposes to shift $1.3 billion of property taxes from local governments to K-14 districts and reduce state education spending by an equal amount. In our view, the Legislature should use its authority over this tax for the overall betterment of local government, not as a state rainy day fund. Accordingly, we recommend the Legislature reject this proposal. If the Legislature chooses to review proposals to reduce local taxes, we offer guidelines for this process and outline an alternative budget reduction consistent with these guidelines. While this alternative also represents an undesirable intrusion into local finance, it would have fewer negative effects.