February 21, 2025 -
In this post, we provide background on the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids program, information on the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families pilot and California’s pilot application, and comments and questions for the Legislature to consider surrounding the implementation of the pilot.
(03/20/25) Update on Federal Pilot. In March 2025, the federal government notified the five previously selected pilot states—California, Maine, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Ohio—that these states were deselected from the pilot project. The federal Administration for Children and Families (ACF) indicated it plans to take a new approach to the pilot program and will issue a new request for proposals from states. The previously selected pilot states will not be subject to work participation rate requirements for federal fiscal year 2025. More information is available on the ACF website.
March 5, 2025 - This brief provides a short summary of the Governor’s proposed budget for the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) before addressing four issues that warrant legislative oversight: (1) quality incentives as part of service provider rate reform, (2) the Master Plan for Developmental Services, (3) DDS’s ongoing information technology project, and (4) the phaseout of subminimum wage employment.
February 13, 2024 - This brief provides an overview of the Governor’s proposed budget for the Department of Developmental Services and analyzes proposals to delay service provider rate reform and create a new Master Plan for Developmental Services. We then raise oversight issues for legislative consideration.
January 4, 2023 - This brief evaluates the California Air Resources Board's plan for achieving statewide 2030 greenhouse gas reduction goals.
March 14, 2024 - This report, prepared at the request of the Legislature, makes recommendations primarily intended to increase transparency of operations and activities at county offices of education.
March 5, 2024 - In this post, we provide background on the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, information on the upcoming federal changes and how they are likely to impact the CalWORKs program, and comments and questions for the Legislature to consider as it determines if and how to respond to the federal changes.
April 29, 2025 - This post discusses a new process introduced by the administration to plan, develop, and implement generative artificial intelligence projects—the Project Delivery Lifecycle—and its potential impacts on legislative oversight of technology projects.
February 9, 2018 - In this report, we (1) provide background material on the types of training and educational opportunities the CCC offers and how the CCC is funded, (2) discuss the CCC’s goals and objectives for improving its training and work program and the corpsmember outcomes it currently tracks (3) assess the lack of corpsmember outcome data and the feasibility of establishing meaningful corpsmember outcome measures and (4) recommend steps the Legislature could take to improve outcome measurements for corpsmembers and to improve the overall performance of the department.
January 20, 2015 - This report examines Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs) for 50 school districts to evaluate whether they reflect thoughtful strategic planning and meet statutory requirements. We find that fulfilling all of the statutory LCAP requirements is a challenging undertaking for districts. Requiring districts to cover every area required in statute—regardless of local conditions—reduces the time and energy districts can spend on areas in need of greatest attention. We recommend the Legislature allow districts to focus their plans on their highest priority areas rather than require them to address all eight state-specified priority areas. We also find that the information in districts’ LCAPs related to the services they will provide to EL/LI students is often unclear and difficult to understand. We recommend several changes that would improve the quality of this information. We also recommend the Legislature clarify the metrics districts can include in their plans. Additionally, we recommend the state disseminate model LCAPs to help districts improve their plans moving forward.
February 22, 2023 -
This report describes the Governor’s proposed budget solutions within climate, resources, and environmental programs, and provides the Legislature with a framework and suggestions for how it might modify those proposals to better reflect its priorities and prepare to address a potentially larger budget problem.
Correction (4/27/23): The amounts in Figure 1 for Wildfire and Forest Resilience and Nature-Based Activities and Extreme Heat have been corrected.
September 22, 2022 - This report provides background on the provision of indigent defense in California, discusses existing indigent defense service levels, and makes recommendations to improve the state's oversight of indigent defense.
February 20, 2025 - This post provides an overview of the Governor’s proposed budget for the Department of Health Care Access and Information, analyzes a proposed diaper access initiative, and provides an implementation update on the CalRx program.
April 3, 2025 - In this post, we assess administration-proposed trailer bill language that would increase certain fees charged by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation and make recommendations to help ensure the department has the resources it needs to meet its oversight and regulatory mission.
January 17, 2013 - In recent years, the state has passed various laws altering the state's criminal justice system. Most notably, in 2011, the state shifted--or "realigned"--responsibility to house and supervise tens of thousands of adult felons from the state to local governments. Major policy changes such as the 2011 realignment, as well as others, are likely to raise numerous questions from policymakers, practitioners, and the public regarding those policies' impacts on public safety and costs. Consequently, we are releasing an updated version of our 2007 report California's Criminal Justice System: A Primer. This report includes key statistics on crime rates, adult and juvenile arrests, prosecutions in the criminal courts, and state and local corrections in California. Where possible, this information is provided through 2011, providing readers with a picture of the state's criminal justice system prior to the full implementation of the 2011 realignment, against which they can evaluate how the system changed following realignment (such as in terms of crime rates, court caseloads, and correctional populations). This report also includes in-depth discussions of some of the most important criminal justice issues likely to face policymakers in coming years.
February 11, 2022 - This brief analyzes the Governor's major budget proposals for the California Community Colleges, with a focus on apportionments increases, enrollment, modifications to the Student Centered Funding Formula, part-time faculty health insurance, and deferred maintenance.
February 1, 2021 - This report analyzes the Governor’s major budget proposals for the universities, covering base funding, enrollment, students’ basic needs, faculty professional development, and deferred maintenance.
February 25, 2025 - This brief provides our analysis of the Governor’s 2025-26 budget proposals related to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.