The $170.7 billion budget plan for 2016-17 that California Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled Thursday contains several items of note pertaining to technology.
The proposal would fund an additional $1.6 million and 11 staff positions to form a permanent IT security auditing unit within the Department of Technology that would review all departments for compliance.
The allocation appears it could help address the State Auditor’s findings in 2015 that many state agencies and departments self-reported they’re not fully compliant with the state’s existing security policies. A new statute that goes into effect in 2016 requires at least 35 state agencies and departments each year to undergo security audits. The California Military Department will conduct at least some of these annual audits. Also, through an executive order last year, Brown created a statewide Cyber Security Information Center (CSIC) initiative.
In addition, the Brown administration says the budget plan includes a $1.7 million increase for 12 staff positions “to provide project oversight and procurement support to departments to improve the quality, value, and likelihood that IT projects undertaken by the state will be successful.” The Department of Technology has an oversight division and during 2016 is standing up a new statewide Project Management Office (CA-PMO).
In total, Brown’s budget would allocate $364.4 million to the Department of Technology, a $10 million decrease from the 2015-16 enacted budget.
Here are some other tech-related items in Brown’s budget plan:
--- $60 million via 2016-17 cap-and-trade expenditures for “Water and Energy Technology Program and Appliance Rebates.”
--- $30 million for the California Energy Commission to start up the new Water Energy Technology (WET) innovation program that was approved but not funded last year.
--- $25 million for the Energy Commission’s Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program “to provide incentives for in-state biofuel production through the expansion of existing facilities or the construction of new facilities.”
--- $8.7 million in General Fund to fund the Phoenix Financial System, operated by Judicial Council staff, that provides the state with consistent financial information of trial court expenditures.
As has been his mantra in previous years, Brown cautioned that the state and its Legislature must exercise fiscal restraint despite what he said is a good budget outlook relative to previous years. His budget plan would deposit an additional $2 billion into the state’s Rainy Day fund.
“This budget, relative to the budgets of the last decade and a half, is in good shape,” the governor said during a news conference Thursday morning at the State Capitol.
Read the full budget plan summary on the Department of Finance website.
