In its report, the Commission calls on the state to take immediate action to overcome the challenges involved in reducing landfill methane emissions as part of a larger effort to meet California’s climate change goals. Written testimony from hearing witnesses can be found below in the corresponding event agenda.  In the News Little Hoover Commission, August 28, 2023, "California Set a Great Goal for Methane Reduction—Let's ... [more]

The COVID-19 pandemic had devastating effects on small businesses in California, with minority- and women-owned businesses bearing the brunt of these impacts. In response, the California Rebuilding Fund was launched in Fall 2020 to partner with Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) in providing loans to small businesses as they rebuild and recover from the unprecedented impacts of the pandemic.  This Issue Brief ... [more]

COVID has confronted California with two pandemics of public health: the viral pandemic and a pandemic of mental health that has fallen especially heavily on children and youth. The pandemic created a perfect storm of stress, anxiety, and trauma that amplified preexisting challenges to young people’s mental health. California now faces a looming tsunami of children’s mental health needs. The pandemic will likely impact some young ... [more]

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the deepest economic contraction since the Great Depression and left millions of Californians unemployed. The impact of the pandemic-induced recession has fallen disproportionately on communities of color and on underserved communities, amplifying existing inequities in California’s economy. As of late 2020, California had lost 1. 5 million jobs due to the COVID pandemic, with jobs losses concentrated among ... [more]

The Fish and Game Commission and the agency that carries out its policies, the Department of Fish and Game, have a broad mandate to protect California's natural resources. The key focus of the study is the capability and performance of both the Commission and the Department in meeting these increasingly complex demands. In addition to eight findings, the Commission makes 12 recommendations regarding the mandate of the two entities, their... [more]

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Proposed by: Governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown, Sr. Objective: Create a Department of Personnel Administration. Commission recommendation: Allow plan to take effect. Legislative action: Plan went into effect. ... [more]

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The Commission presents five findings regarding financial management, accountability and control in the Senate's K-12 public school districts. Among the eight recommendations made by the commission are: providing the Superintendent of Public Instruction with greater authority to intervene in school districts that fail to act in a financially responsible manner; increasing the number of financial management assistance reviews by the State ... [more]

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Despite reforms, the State is not doing enough to ensure quality care for California's many frail and vulnerable nursing home residents. As a result, residents of these facilities continue to be subjected to indignities and their safety is not assured. This Commission report makes a series of recommendations to improve the quality of life in skilled nursing facilities, including increasing enforcement and penalty collection efforts by the... [more]

A follow-up to the Commission's January 1987 report, this review notes that, in general, the Lottery has matured well since voters approved its creation in 1984. However, the Commission continues to find fault with budgetary oversight and the monitoring of contracts. This report contains four findings and four recommendations regarding legislative review, research and development procedures, methods of evaluating advertising efforts and ... [more]

Proposed by: Governor George Deukmejian. Objective: Create a Department of Waste Management, a State Waste Commission and three Regional Waste boards. Commission recommendation: Implement the plan subject to seven amendments. Legislative action: Rejected. ... [more]

In this report, the Commission urges California leaders to improve criminal justice sentencing by amending the penal code to expand the purpose of incarceration beyond punishment alone. The Commission recommends the state provide incentives to ensure that all counties use some realignment funding to expand public-private partnerships to provide proven programs and services for offenders re-entering the community. ... [more]

Federal and state mandates require substance abuse programs to be accessible to disabled people. This report examines how effective these mandates are, identifies the size of the disabled abusing population, and determines if there are adequate methods of coordinating information and referrals to ensure the delivery of services. The Commission makes three findings and three recommendations regarding the effectiveness and accessibility of... [more]

In this report, the Commission calls for California to develop a coherent strategy for accelerating the integration of immigrants into the economy and their communities. During its review, the Commission found that Immigrant policies fail to encourage immigrants to fully participate in their communities, be contributing community members and become citizens.  California has an obligation to help immigrants succeed. But policies ... [more]

The Commission embarked on this study in mid-1993 to pinpoint state policies and procedures that could be revised to increase the effectiveness of the adult criminal justice system. The report's seven findings and 30 recommendations include clarifying and simplifying sentencing in California, creating a sentencing commission to produce a sentencing structure that meets the philosophical goals of the criminal justice system, shifting all ... [more]

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Over the last decade, the Commission has advocated repeatedly that the State reform its management of real property. Sincere efforts have been made to make the current system function better, but those attempts have failed. Given the State's perennial fiscal woes, the government must seize ways to save money and generate revenue through the management of its real property. The evolution of public organizations, the marketplace and ... [more]

This report is a follow-up to a review of runaway/homeless programs conducted as part of the Commission's 1987 report on Children's Services. The initial report found that there were few services directed toward runaway/homeless youths, but that pilot projects were just beginning in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Based on the success of the pilot projects in providing medical care, shelter, food and counseling, the Commission proposes ... [more]

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Proposed by: Governor Ronald Reagan. Objective: Rename the Department of Harbors & Waterways to Department of Navigation & Ocean Development and rename the Harbors and Watercraft Commission to Navigation and Ocean Development Commission. Commission recommendation: Allow plan to go into effect. Legislative action: Plan went into effect. ... [more]

This letter report addresses the convoluted situation that has revolved around unclaimed, low-tier Lotto and instant game prizes. At various points the State Lottery Commission has adopted and/or modified policies to sweep unclaimed prizes into, first, the Education Fund and, second, into the game prize fund. The Commission's letter report assesses the Lottery's policy and urges changes. Specifically, the Commission recommends that the ... [more]

In this report, the Commission urges policy-makers to eliminate the Office of Criminal Justice Planning (OCJP) and create a new mechanism to ensure the State is effectively helping communities reduce crime and its consequences. During its review, the Commission found that OCJP is not efficiently managing nearly $300 million in grants to local law enforcement and other agencies. More importantly, the Commission found the ... [more]

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The approval of a state lottery by voters creates the need for new systems of accountability. This report focuses on determining if the State has established a sound system to allocate, use and account for lottery funds distributed to education. It also reviews the processes used by school districts to develop priorites for spending lottery funds and the expenditures that school districts have made with these funds. The Commission makes ... [more]

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Proposed by: Governor Ronald Reagan. Objective: Eliminate 32 boards, commissions, committees and advisory councils, transferring some functions to other departments and reconfigure the membership of several other government entities. Commission recommendation: Allow plan to go into effect. Legislative action: Plan went into effect. ... [more]

In this report, the Commission urges for reforms to California’s parole system that would improve public safety and save hundreds of millions of dollars a year. During its review, the Commission found that California’s parole policies are out of sync with those in other states. California puts a larger percentage of offenders on parole and returns offenders to prison for behaviors that in other states would result in a ... [more]

In this report, the Commission urges the Governor and the Legislature to continue their efforts to refine California’s criminal justice policies. Facing budget constraints and pressure from federal courts, California’s leaders embarked on a broad realignment of responsibilities for low-level offenders to the county level to reduce the number of offenders sent to state prison. The Commission supported the realignment, but expressed ... [more]