What escaped cuts during tight state budget year? Government IT projects
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BUDGET CUTS DON’T COME FOR TECH
As lawmakers wade through a sea of budget cuts and make decisions about which state programs to slim down, several government technology projects managed to avoid the chopping block. Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed paring down other initiatives, like Medi-Cal expansion, to plug California’s $12 billion deficit.
Historically, some California IT projects have run over budget and behind schedule. For example, FI$Cal, the state’s effort to build a comprehensive budget system, has been missing its target completion date for years.
Now, during a tight budget year, lawmakers are reckoning with the need to improve the technology California government uses, which largely involves IT projects developed by contractors, while having to save dollars elsewhere.
Some of the additional budget requests for technology projects made in the governor’s May revision include:
▪ An $8 million investment in a generative AI pilot project at the Department of Public Health.
▪ Nearly $20 million to undertake the second phase of improvements to the Department of Industrial Relation’s Public Works information technology system.
▪ A reappropriation of more than $160 million to modernize the Employment Development Department customer service and business process systems known as EDDNext.
“Even with the deficit, we’re seeing big IT investments move forward,” Assemblymember Christopher Ward, D-San Diego, said in a statement. “These projects support important state services, but that doesn’t mean they should be immune from fiscal review.”
Ward said the challenge with funding IT projects is that many are already underway, such as the DIR’s Public Works system. Stopping projects midway through development could disrupt services or waste money California has already spent.
At a budget subcommittee hearing last week lawmakers questioned department officials about spending on these projects and asked for more oversight around the costs associated with them.
Specifically, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office urged lawmakers in February to adopt more oversight over the EDDNext project.
Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-La Palma, said in a statement that she and her colleagues are evaluating spending for IT projects. As the chair of a state administration budget subcommittee, Quirk-Silva said negotiations about specific funding decisions are ongoing.
GOING COASTAL
via Nicole Nixon...
Democratic lawmakers are taking on a new attempt to limit the California Coastal Commission’s authority to block affordable housing projects near the coast.
SB 681 by Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Hayward, was amended in Friday’s suspense file hearing to cut down on appeals to the coastal commission, which has authority to block certain projects to protect California’s 800 miles of coastline.
“It’s incredibly important to be able to build housing at all income levels. Coastal residents earn, on average, 20% more than the state average income, and we have to ensure that our homes are available to everybody,” Wahab said in an interview.
Lawmakers of both parties have criticized the commission for blocking housing in a state that desperately needs more.
Wahab’s bill also cracks down on other fees Wahab describes as chipping away at housing affordability in the state: HOA assessments and “junk fees” for amenities like trash, parking and fitness centers.
The Bay Area Democrat has angered pro-housing activists this year by opposing bills to streamline production, calling such legislation “giveaways” and “sweetheart deals” for developers.
Her main concern is that the Legislature’s housing production goals do not do enough to prioritize affordable housing for those most at risk of losing their homes.
“Developers are able to get breaks to build luxury rentals, but how many home ownership opportunities are they going to build? How many of those rentals are going to be affordable? How many everyday people can actually be able to stay where they live,” she said.
Sacramento has become a poster child for the so-called “abundance movement” – rents have fallen considerably in recent years as the city built more of everything: affordable, market-rate and luxury units.
But Wahab is “absolutely not” buying it.
“When you see the fall of rent, you also have to pay attention to how they’re charging for other fees” that are usually included: “the trash, the utilities, the gym, the laundry service,” she said.
She’s seen it herself in her own Sacramento rental, where she pays a $175 parking fee that doesn’t guarantee a spot. (Her bill would also crack down on these fees that aren’t specifically laid out in a lease agreement.)
“What is really happening is that these developers and housing folks are actually just pocketing the profits while the majority of us are being priced out,” she said. “A lot of games are being played.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“California’s budget problems are only going to get worse with more costly climate disasters like the L.A. fires ... state leaders should hold the largest fossil fuel polluters accountable for the costs of their climate damage to the state.”
— Maya Golden-Krasner, deputy director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, said in a statement advocating for the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act (SB 684), which would empower the state to collect damages from fossil fuel companies. There’s a Tuesday rally in support of the legislation.
Best of The Bee:
▪ Placer County revives homebuyer program that eases path to ownership, via Cathie Anderson
▪ How California’s wealthiest people benefit most from the Republicans’ tax cut, via David Lightman
▪ Congress blocks California’s EV mandate. What does that mean for climate goals? via Nicole Nixon
▪ ‘Big, beautiful bill’ vs. California budget: Newsom warns of GOP Medicaid cuts, via Lia Russell
