So large, in fact, that state Chief Information Officer Liana Bailey-Crimmins discussed the matter Dec. 14 during a CDT Vendor Forum, telling representatives of IT companies that the deficit predicted by the Legislative Analyst’s Office in “The 2024-25 Budget: California’s Fiscal Outlook” should not halt all tech spend.
“Anything that is in motion, this is not meant to disrupt what we need to do in order to achieve our mission,” Bailey-Crimmins said, “but it is asking departments to be creative, and sometimes it may be elongating projects.” (Find additional coverage of the CDT Vendor Forum here.) With precisely two weeks remaining before Gov. Gavin Newsom must present his 2024-25 FY proposed budget to lawmakers — by Jan. 10, in accordance with the state Constitution — here are several ongoing IT projects that were funded in the FY 2023-24 enacted state budget and could seek additional funding in 2024:
- The California Secretary of State’s Office (SOS) submitted a budget change proposal (BCP) in February seeking $6.9 million from the General Fund in FY 2023-24 to support the CARS project to replace the California Automated Lobbying and Campaign Contributions and Expenditure Search System (CAL-ACCESS) for state-mandated electronic reporting of campaign finance and lobbying activity. (All numbers are rounded; CARS stands for CAL-ACCESS Replacement Systems.) SOS received the funding in its portion of the enacted FY 2023-24 state budget. But the project is only in stage three, or solution, of the four-stage CDT Project Approval Lifecycle (PAL), and project execution is expected to last about 27 months.
- The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) submitted a BCP in January seeking $1.9 million over two fiscal years, $1.6 million of that from the General Fund, for continued planning, design, development, and implementation of the Statewide Verification Hub project, which would streamline and modernize the process of seeking needed eligibility verifications for means-tested human services programs across several state entities. CDSS received $1.6 million from the General Fund and $400,000 from other funds in the enacted FY 2023-24 state budget, but the project is only at stage one, or business analysis, of the PAL process.
- The California State Controller’s Office (SCO) and the California Department of Human Resources (CalHR) submitted a BCP, with SCO seeking $46.8 million from the General Fund and seven permanent positions in FY 2023-24 and CalHR seeking $2.9 million from the General Fund and nine permanent positions in FY 2023-24, all to support the California State Payroll System modernization project as it moves from planning to implementation. SCO received $118 million from the General Fund and $12 million from other funds plus the seven permanent positions in its portion of the enacted FY 2023-24 state budget; CalHR received $2.9 million and the nine positions sought in its area of the enacted FY 2023-24 state budget. But the project is still in stage three of the PAL process and in the BCP, both state entities indicated they were seeking additional funding through the 2027-28 fiscal year.
- The California Department of State Hospitals (DSH) submitted a BCP seeking $21.5 million from the General Fund and 40 positions in FY 2023-24, and $22.3 million from the General Fund and 58 positions ongoing to finish planning, complete the system integrator procurement and begin moving into implementation of the new Continuum Electronic Health Record (EHR) System. DSH received the $21.5 million and 40 positions in its portion of the enacted FY 2023-24 state budget; however, the project is only in stage three of the PAL process and not yet complete.
