The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is, with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) and the Technology (CDT) and Military (CMD) departments, part of a singularly large budget change proposal (BCP) this year: a request for $28.7 million from the General Fund “ongoing” and 17 positions to “continue limited-term resources authorized in 2020-21 ... and enhance resources to support the responsibilities of the California Cybersecurity Integration Center” (Cal-CSIC).
That BCP, the Legislative Analyst’s Office said in March, accounted for nearly half of the $64.4 million in BCPs this budget cycle that are related to information security. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s May Revision of his proposed 2023-2024 Fiscal Year state budget, which was released May 12, would give the CHP about $3.2 million more than in January, representing a proposed increase for the agency from $2.97 billion in January to $2.98 billion in May, all with rounding. According to the state constitution, the Legislature must approve a budget by June 15, about two weeks before the July 1 start of the new fiscal year.
But information security isn’t the only area of its enterprise where the CHP is engaged in IT work. In three BCPs released in January, the agency seeks additional funding for other initiatives that would enable it to update aspects of its infrastructure. Among the takeaways:
- CHP is asking for 11 permanent positions and a “multi-year budget augmentation from the Motor Vehicle Account (MVA)” to extend its Wireless Mobile Video/Audio Recording System project and implement body-worn cameras (BWC) statewide that fully integrate with in-car cameras. These would be rolled out to all uniformed employees. In this BCP, the agency asks for a “one-time budget augmentation” of a little more than $9.8 million in FY 2023-24; a little more than $9.9 million in FY 2024-25; and about $4.9 million in “ongoing budget augmentation” starting in FY 2025-26. The CHP has used a DVD-based in-car camera system since 2009 to gather evidence in criminal cases and for “investigations involving allegations of employee misconduct.” The agency got $1 million from the FY 2015-16 budget for a pilot evaluating BWCs; it looked at “data storage needs, evaluated operational considerations, surveyed user experience, and reviewed indicators associated with public behavior.” The agency found using BWCs to be “beneficial, with a significant portion of officers indicating it improved their work performance, and enhanced transparency and interactions with members of the public,” according to the BCP. The 11 positions sought will enable BWC maintenance, support, and oversight as well as compliance with the California Public Records Act. Implementing BWCs statewide will “exponentially increase the amount of video footage available for public disclosure,” CHP said, and it will increase the workload and time needed to process and respond to all BWC footage requests — requiring additional staffing. However, “the expectation by the public that interactions between law enforcement and members of the public be recorded serves to enhance transparency and accountability.”
- CHP seeks $402,000 in permanent MVA funding for two existing IT Specialist II positions. One is the agency’s privacy and risk management administrator; the other, its systems security engineer. They help run a Privacy and Risk Management Program that safeguards personally identifiable information (PII) that’s kept in CHP’s IT infrastructure. The jobs were originally approved with “limited-term funding” in FY 2017-18 to stand up the program; this request would preserve the positions. The funding includes the cost of salary, benefits and operating expenses and equipment for both positions. Approving the BCP will let CHP continue meeting state mandates on computer and network security, and mitigating risks, it said in the BCP — potentially “reducing IT security risks and potential litigation.” The agency said the two jobs are “critical in maintaining oversight and compliance programs to ensure the highest level of confidentiality, integrity, and availability” around its network, data and personnel. The two positions also are “instrumental” in recurring security audits and assessments.
- CHP is asking for one associate governmental program analyst position and $1.05 million “permanent budget augmentation from the Motor Vehicle Account,” with rounding, to pay for “ongoing operation costs of the Fleet Telematics System.” The system, it said in the BCP, enables “sending, receiving, and storing of telemetry data,” including data on location, speed and fuel consumption for vehicles. State Administrative Manual (SAM) policies on telematics indicate that by Feb. 1, 2022, state agencies needed to have the services installed and activated on all “owned assets in their fleet.” Per the BCP, CHP had 3,532 “existing fleet assets” that needed telematics by an earlier SAM deadline of Aug. 1, 2021; it is now buying 584 “additional fleet assets to replace over-mileage assets that did not receive the initial telematics services due to high-mileage.” Geotab’s “subscription-based service” on these vehicles is $914,000 a year; the funding sought will help maintain the existing subscription level; the position sought, with “associated funding of $139,000,” will pay for a “statewide telematics administrator/coordinator.”
