GovReport

On climate, energy, infrastructure, and technology

Will Keys

State Broadband Infrastructure to Get $5.25B Expansion

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Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders have agreed to a budget trailer bill on Monday that will increase state broadband infrastructure spending by $5.25 billion, according to a press release from the Governor’s Office.

The bill (AB/SB 156) was announced by Gov. Newsom, Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego), and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) and will expand the state’s broadband infrastructure, bringing open-access internet connectivity to Californian households and businesses in need. 

“This legislation will yield vital, broadened access for California families by prioritizing the unserved and underserved areas, facilities, households, and businesses that remain disconnected in the digital era,” Gov. Newsom said in the announcement. 

The bill, originally introduced in Jan. 2021, establishes the Office of Broadband and Digital Literacy within the Department of Technology, as well as a “broadband czar” and a nine-person council within the department. 

The bill allocates $3.25 billion to build and maintain high-capacity fiber lines and another $2 billion for “last-mile infrastructure” to connect homes and businesses with local networks.

State Capitol: Major Changes Ahead for California Tech

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California’s future is heavily invested in innovative technology, but numerous legacy IT systems across the state struggle to modernize, exceeding the budget, schedule, or both.  Moreover, the state lacks enterprise collaboration, with countless siloed platforms such as the often-cited example of 79 separate case management systems across 22 departments.

Assembly Bill 1323, introduced by Assemblymember David Chiu (D-San Francisco), aims to centralize all IT modernization projects through the California Department of Technology, giving them statutory authority to “identify and prioritize the stabilization and modernization of legacy IT systems across all agencies and departments.”   Now pending in the Senate, the Assembly recently passed the measure with no opposition.

Existing law states that the chief information officer of each state agency is responsible developing their agency’s enterprise architecture as it relates to legacy system modernization and other IT maintenance. If passed, AB 1323 would transfer the responsibility from the agency CIOs to the review and analysis of CDT.

At present, CDT only has the authority to fix problems rather than prevent them.  “Currently, CDT operates reactively to fix problems that have already occurred, and no central agency proactively plans and oversees IT projects,” according to a legislative analysis.

Additionally, CDT would be required to identify legacy IT system modernization efforts across the state actively and submit an annual report to the Legislature containing “an explanation of how CDT is prioritizing legacy IT system modernization efforts across state government; an estimate of the annual and total preliminary costs for each effort and for the entire state modernization portfolio; and the impediments and risks that could, or issues that already have, led to changes in how CDT identifies, assesses, and prioritizes modernization efforts.”

According to the analysis, the legislation:

  • Would require CDT to identify, assess, and prioritize legacy information technology system modernization efforts across state government.
  • Would require CDT to submit an annual report to the Legislature that includes: an explanation of how CDT is prioritizing legacy IT system modernization efforts across state government; an estimate of the annual and total preliminary costs for each effort and for the entire state modernization portfolio; and the impediments and risks that could, or issues that already have, led to changes in how CDT identifies, assesses, and prioritizes modernization efforts.
  • Would require all state agencies and state entities to submit all of their current IT service contracts to CDT before May 1, 2022.
  • Would require CDT to analyze the contracts submitted pursuant to the section above, and use the information obtained from that analysis to assess state IT investment in order to identify types of uses that are candidates for statewide contracts for commonly used or shared services; to create a replicable analytic approach to better understand user demand; and to inform management approaches regarding demand and supply.

AB 1323 is not without potential hazards or concerns. Primarily, the scope of the task to funnel all IT modernization efforts through one department remains daunting and logistically problematic.

The author hopes to prevent future IT failures, citing examples with FI$CAL, DMV, and EDD.

“When government websites and online systems don’t work, they have very real impacts on our residents,” Assemblymember Chiu said in an April press release. “This bill begins the process of reforming and unraveling the complicated web of antiquated and duplicative technology systems across state agencies.”

Meanwhile, in his May Revise Budget, Gov. Newsom has proposed a one-time $50 million increase CDT to identify and approve projects to quickly repair critical infrastructure in need of modernization.  State agencies will submit proposals to CDT and the Department of Finance to fund solutions that “allows for immediate remediation of risks through quick and efficient solution implementations.”   The effort calls for assessments of existing critical systems, and solutions to be considered for the greatest impact, such as risk reduction, return on investment, and quality of service improvement.

The modernization fund is part of CDT’s Vision 2023 initiative that will also fund projects on an iterative and ongoing basis to support teams that show quick progress.   The department is working with the Office of Digital Innovation to improve the customer experience for Californians.

Aspen Institute: Three ways California could improve tech project oversight

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As part of a presentation by Aspen Institute’s Tech Policy Hub and the Tech Talent Project held on May 11, three teams presented concepts on how to improve California’s Project Approval Lifecycle (PAL), the state’s oversight process for large-scale technology projects. The recommendations are part of the California Department of Technology’s Vision 2023 initiative to improve the way state government uses technology to serve Californians.

The teams of technology experts spent a few weeks analyzing the complexities of PAL before proposing a solution that could improve the overall process.

The first speaker, Kleiner Perkins entrepreneur Tejash Unadkat, tackled the issue of adapting PAL to the size and scope of projects. Specifically, larger projects total over $25 million in funding and have a greater chance of sinking.

“We dug further and found that the larger the project, the higher the probability that would increase the budget and potentially fail,” Unadkat said.

Ultimately, Unadkat and his colleague Colin Jenkel proposed that all projects be capped at $25 million with a length of four years, requiring numerous validation and proof of concept checkpoints in the very early stages of project planning.

“This will encourage smaller, more iterative projects to move forward,” Jenkel said.

The second proposal focused on the state’s COVID reporting system as a “success story,” establishing a basis to create the California Technology Fellowship program.

“The California Department of Technology, and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) decided to band together with their two bodies of knowledge to successfully partner and acquire a new COVID-19 reporting software,” innovation ecosystem builder Erika Cheung said. “That really begs the question of how is it the case of this COVID-19 reporting software was acquired in two weeks?”

Cheung and her colleague, software engineer  Rohit Chandra, found that one of the keys to a quick and efficient digital procurement was cross-departmental collaboration, as was exhibited by the two departments.  Executing such collaboration across agencies will require public workers to develop new technology skills, Cheung said.

“What we suggested is creating a 12-month program, where you embed 12 Senior professionals that work across 10 different state departments to come into the CDT office and work on procuring some subset of innovative technology products.”

Such a program would need championing from state higher-ups, such as Gov. Newsom and CDT officials, but could pay off in the way of quicker delivery times and projects running under budget.

The third team presented a tool called the “PALPro Planner” to align project planning with the state budget process.  “The tool allows project owners to easily schedule deliverables around key budget cycle dates, and improve the PAL workflow to keep teams on track. Implementing this tool will ultimately enable faster project approval under the PAL process,” says the proposal.

The PAL process, which includes four stages, (business analysis, alternative analysis, solution development, and project readiness and approval) was introduced during the Brown Administration as an alternative to feasibility study reports (FSR) that were used in the past to take technology projects from concept to production.

Watch the hour-long presentation here: https://youtu.be/kqRKHVGVldE

 

Legislation seeks to address algorithm bias in state IT projects

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This week, legislation that would create the Automated Decision Systems Accountability Act of 2021 passed out of the Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection, moving a step closer to regulating artificial intelligence in state IT projects. 

Assembly Bill 13 by Assemblymember David Chiu (D-San Francisco) requires decision-making on the acquisition of information technology to be supplemented with a computational process that includes data analysis, statistical models, and artificial intelligence that minimizes the risk of algorithmic bias, or the “risk of adverse and discriminatory impacts resulting from the design and application of automated decision systems.”

Existing law requires a “value-effective acquisition” of information technology goods—the careful consideration of operational cost, product quality, and other factors when awarding contracts for applications that carry a high level of risk.

According to the bill, high-risk applications are defined as any application that poses risks to personal information or legal rights of individuals, particularly those identified in the Unruh Civil Rights Act. 

AB13 hinges on the idea that legal obligation of seeking a value-effective acquisition cannot be fulfilled without leveraging automated support that eliminates or reduces the risk of discrimination and bias. 

The proposal says the California Department of Technology must “establish and make public guidelines for identifying automated decision systems that are subject to the bill’s requirements” on or before Jan. 1, 2023.  

The bill also requires that, within ten days of awarding a contract, state agencies must submit a high-risk automated decision system accountability report to CDT, which would provide “a description of any potential disparate impacts . . . and a detailed mitigation plan for identifying and minimizing the potential for any disparate impacts throughout the contracted use of the system.”

Assemblymember Ed Chau, who first proposed AB13 in Dec, 2020, fielded questions during the Thursday hearing. 

Some of AB13’s opposition expressed concerns regarding the breadth of the bill, and whether the definition of a “high-risk application” could be applied to nearly any work the state does on a daily basis.

Chau assured opponents that the bill had already been narrowed substantially and that AB13 “will likely be amended to explicitly exclude [calculators and spreadsheets] from the bill.”

Furthermore, Chau assured the opposition that AB13 would not require private companies that develop algorithms and artificial intelligence to reveal any trade secrets or proprietary information. 

 

Board Members Appointed to California’s Privacy Protection Agency

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On Mar. 17, Governor Gavin Newsom, along with other state officials, announced the establishment of the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) board and appointed five inaugural members.

The new agency was created by Proposition 24 approved by California voters on Nov. 4, 2020. to create the first independent regulatory and enforcement authority full administrative and jurisdiction oversight to enforce the California Consumer Privacy Act and California Privacy Rights Act of 2020.

The five-member board, made up of privacy, technology, and consumer rights experts, including the following:

  • Jennifer M. Urban, Clinical Professor of Law and Director of Policy Initiatives for the Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Urban was designated by Gov. Newsom.
  • John Christopher Thompson, Senior Vice President of Government Relations at LA 2028. Thompson was designated by Gov. Newsom.
  • Angela Sierra, former Chief Assistant Attorney General of the Public Rights Division. Sierra was designated by Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
  • Lydia de la Torre, professor at Santa Clara University Law School specializing in privacy law. De la Torre was designated by Senate President pro tempore Toni G. Atkins.
  • Vinhcent Le, Technology Equity attorney at the Greenlining Institute, Le was designated by Speaker Anthony Rendon.

“Californians deserve to have their data protected and the individuals appointed today will bring their expertise in technology, privacy and consumer rights to advance that goal,” Gov. Newsom said via a press release from his office. “These appointees represent a new day in online consumer protection and business accountability.”

New report confronts shift in workplace amid economic crisis

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With a backdrop of economic crisis and a massive shift toward telework due to the global pandemic, a new report confronts unemployment, unequal wages, and a fast-changing job landscape.

Governor Newsom’s Future of Work Commission published its findings after 18 months of meetings across the state and staff work that identifies challenges faced by businesses and government.   While started before COVID-19, the study says 2020 accelerated conditions and pushed leaders to form a “New Social Compact” for workers.

California Business Roundtable President Rob Lapsley said that it’s too soon to tell if we are beyond an economic tipping point. In a panel discussion hosted online by Capitol Weekly, Lapsley was joined by Newsom’s former economic advisory Lenny Mendonca, labor leader Caitlin Vega, and Evan White, executive director of the California Policy Lab.

“We’re going to see a fundamental shift coming out of the pandemic of what work looks like, for California companies. And that starts with telecommuting,” said Lapsley.  “What does that mean? Are workers going to be connected to California companies, but working out of state? What does that mean for housing? What does that mean for commuting? What does that mean for real estate?”

The 55-page report examines the future of work in California by the year 2030, as well as economic trends related to automation and job displacement across the state.

“The challenges we all faced in 2020 both fast-tracked the trends shaping the future of work and shifted predictions to current reality,” Commission co-chairs Mary Kay-Henry and James Manyika said in a press release announcing the report. 

The report offers five “moonshot” goals to work towards in the next ten years. 

  • Ensure sure there is a job for everyone willing to work, prioritizing job creation and job access. 
  • Eliminate the poverty faced by nearly 45 percent of Californians living with at least one working family member. 
  • Create a worker benefits model and safety net that meets the upcoming work arrangements of the 21st century.
  • Raise the standard of quality jobs to address the pre-COVID dilemma regarding the plateau in wage growth despite low unemployment rates.
  • Ensure jobs are “future-proofed” in anticipation of economic shocks that could be related to technological or climate-related transformations. 

The report also proposes several initiatives, which include:

  • Creating one million jobs that accelerate the deployment of clean energy.
  • Expanding opportunities for small businesses and entrepreneurs through education and training programs and procurement. 
  • Extending employment social enterprises to groups who face high barriers to work.
  • Calling on the federal government to follow suit and enact a “Job Guarantee” that incentivizes private-sector job creation. 

Meanwhile, California state government has adapted to the pandemic by implementing a telework policy across most agencies.  Gov. Newsom has called for telework to be permanent cost-savings and efficiency measure.  A new statewide comprehensive telework policy has been developed, according to this year’s state budget proposal, and will presumably be announced.

Can California get ahead of IT project failures?

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California government is trying to get ahead of state IT project failures, said Chief Information Officer Amy Tong last week at a budget hearing.

Answering questions from Assemblymember David Chiu, a frequent and vocal critic of failed state IT projects such as recent examples at the EDD and DMV, Tong made her case for more resources and oversight authority.

“Just like you [Chiu] described, we are in many times our operating like an ER doctor is because the fact that on a day to day basis, each of the departments, and there are 130 plus state entities, each one of them has their own IT shop, and each one of them has their IT budget and makes IT project investment decisions, with the exception, the ones that are over a certain threshold, which is what you see in the overall IT project tracking list,” said Tong.

The Newsom Administration is requesting 17 additional positions and $11.4 M in 2021-22, $9,4 M in 2022-23, and $6.4 M ongoing to “invest in proactive measures to stabilize critical services and enhance performance statewide, particularly in light of the challenges faced during COVID-19.”

“If we can actually have more visibility to the database expenditure, the decision-making, and be more embedded with the department, we can be more into what I call preventive care as opposed to emergency responsive care in terms of the health of the IT investment at the particular program department,” Tong continued. 

The budget proposal is part of a plan laid out in CDT’s “Vision 2023,” California’s technology strategic plan released on Jan. 15,  which offers key goals that include delivering easy-to-use and inclusive public services and creating “challenge teams” to begin work early in 2021.

“I absolutely support your budget request,” Chiu said. “I actually think the state would be better served if we did a better job of centralizing the thought process, the strategy, [and] budget oversight within your department.”

Generally supportive of the budget proposal, the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) expressed concerns over a lack of key details such as the length and scope of deep-dive service assessments, the transition from short-term crisis management to long-term IT project planning, and reporting mechanism to the Legislature and other stakeholders. 

New CHHS unit seeks to leverage people-related data across the state

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With a mission to deliver health and human services, the state’s largest agency has created a new unit to use its vast amount of data with more efficiency and sophistication.   

The Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS) is proposing to fund a new program called the Center for Data Insights and Innovations (CDII), according to a budget change proposal (BCP) submitted to the Legislature on Jan. 10.

In a blog post announcing the establishment of the CDII, Director John Ohanion said that one of the department’s key principles is to “put the person back in person-centered” and to “see the whole person.” 

The purpose of establishing CDII is to leverage data in a way that improves program delivery through four main objectives: institutionalizing and leveraging analytics, using in-house data intelligence to cut outsourcing costs, optimizing department success, and serving as a model for analytical excellence.

CHHS argues in the BCP that data has not yet been fully utilized in an agency that affects the public health and welfare of all Californians, and more robust use of data and analytics within CDII would allow the agency to increase efficiency and optimize the use of resources, reach underserved populations, and address socioeconomic health disparities. 

“Together, we must act as one government, breaking down silos and building a culture that focuses on delivering services that are person-centered and not program-centered,” Ohanion continued.

The role of data is key in shaping policy and the COVID-19 response, according to the post.  Data from the Department of Public Health and the Department of Health Care Services was utilized to identify COVID-19 risk factors along with demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic lines.

According to the BCP, CDII will be cost-neutral, redirecting positions and funding within CHHS, California’s largest agency.

 

Image by Alexander Sinn on Unsplash

 

‘My Turn’ site launched to track vaccine eligibility

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The State of California has launched a new data system that will inform citizens when they are eligible and how to schedule an appointment to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.  

The new system, called ‘My Turn,’ helps Californians track vaccination data and sign up for notifications to know when and where they can get their first and second shots,” according to an announcement from the Newsom Administration.

The site was launched in partnership with Salesforce, according to a tweet from CEO Marc Benioff.  “Millions of Californians will turn to Salesforce’s ‘My Turn’ a new site for Covid-19 vaccinations that will allow residents to learn when they are eligible & find a place to make an appointment,” said Benioff.

In addition to Salesforce, technology companies Skedulo and Accenture are part of the site’s development and implementation, according to an announcement from Newsom’s office.  The site is being piloted in Los Angeles and San Diego counties and will be available statewide in early February.

Californians can visit www.myturn.ca.gov to learn more.

Image: by CDC on Unsplash

 

 

 

Little Hoover Commission Pushes for Sharing of Healthcare Records

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The sharing of data and records between California healthcare providers has grown in the last decade, but there’s still plenty of work to be done, says the state’s Little Hoover Commission.

Despite the growth of programs that incentivize and fund the sharing of records among health care providers, the Little Hoover Commission found that just 26 percent of Medi-Cal providers are connected to one of eight qualified Health Information Organizations (HIO), which securely share data and records.

Since 2011, programs like the California Technical Assistance Program and Medi-Cal Promoting Interoperability Program have poured over $1 billion in state and federal funds into helping Medi-Cal professionals purchase, install, and use electronic records.

California has also dedicated $50 million in state funds to the California Health Information Exchange Onboarding Program (Cal-HOP), which aims to increase the number of Medi-Cal providers exchanging data, bolster data-exchanging capabilities for Medi-Cal providers that already participate in HIOs, and provide access to Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) prescription drug monitoring database.

In addition to increasing access to healthcare records, the Little Hoover Commission urged policymakers to follow through on customer service recommendations it made in 2015 to expand and improve delivery platforms. Read

Report: 2.3 Million Californians Lack High-Speed Internet

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Although the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed internet access into a must for workers and students across the state, the Little Hoover Commission has found in their issue brief that 2.3 million Californians lack access to high-speed internet.

The Little Hoover Commission found that while California offers accessible, low-cost broadband coverage, its speed is considered much slower than in other states. Americans on the whole pay more for slower speeds compared to their foreign counterparts, which the Commission attributed to a lack of competition among internet service providers.

Without offering specific policy suggestions to correct what they call the “digital divide,” the Commission concluded that weakened or no internet connectivity is barring Californians from opportunities in education, work, as well as accessing government resources and services.

Solutions could include California municipalities starting more fiber broadband networks in the state to compete with traditional internet service providers, using either a public or public-private model. Such initiatives have proven successful in Santa Monica, but have failed in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

California outlines future of artificial intelligence

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The State of California has taken initial steps to consider how artificial intelligence will play an inevitable role in delivering services to the people of the Golden State.

Legislation passed in 2019 called for California to work with stakeholders and develop guidelines by January 2021.

At a recent vendor forum by the California Department of Technology, Chief of Statewide Technology Policy CDT Pam Haase gave an update on the department’s initiative, which began earlier in the year but was slowed down considerably by constraints caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Image by Michael Dziedzic, Unsplash

Haase laid out three broad objectives regarding the implementation of AI to state departments, each of which has a varying level of understanding and experience with AI technology.

Those objectives include:

Demonstrating how AI can improve delivery and digital services. CDT has partnered with the CITRIS Policy Lab to study industry use of AI and produce a report that outlines basic recommendations for AI adoption within state government.

Providing guidelines for the ethical and responsible use of AI. CDT wants to establish trust from the public in their ability to implement AI in an ethical manner.
Providing a practical approach to implementing AI. This includes creating an AI vendor pool, training for both the business and technical side of procuring and implementing the new technology.

Haase also noted that she expects a concrete policy framework regarding the use of AI to become available by the spring of 2021 following input from the public via a listening session.

In an effort to cater to varying needs statewide, Haase stressed that AI will provide value to any and all departments regardless of their awareness and experience level with the technology.

“The deliverables are going to provide something of value to everyone no matter where you’re at, whether you’re brand new to AI, or whether your department is already currently using it,” Haase said.

Further, according to CDT’s Chief Technology Innovation Officer Manveer Bola, who also spoke at the forum, one of the major priorities regarding the implementation of AI technology is to tailor digital services to meet “specific user needs.”

Part of that includes using AI to promote web diversity by quickly and accurately translating websites as well as providing customer service mimicking a one-on-one chat with an employee.

Another goal Bola mentioned was to use AI to gather COVID response surveys, even reading into them further than one would expect from AI.

“We’re looking at AI to try to help us boil down those responses into much more meaningful output that we can consume easier, maybe even measuring sentiment,” Bola said.

CWS-CARES Project Director Leaving State Service

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Rebecca Stilling, the project director for California’s Child Welfare Services-California Automated Response and Engagement System (CWS-CARES) will be leaving state service this week, according to an email distributed to project staff.

She will be on the job until Oct. 15, she said.  Office of System Integrations Deputy Director Cynthia Tocher will step into the role as acting project director.

“Together we have dedicated the two and a half years of my tenure as Project Director to prepare for the development of CWS-CARES.   Our accomplishments are too many to list here but I’d like each of you to know that we can be proud of our research, planning, and preparations because our work together was done with excellence, commitment, integrity and teamwork,” said the email.

Earlier this year the CWS-CARES project was downgraded to a “red” rating by an Independent Project Oversight Reporting (IPOR) assessment by the California Department of Technology (CDT), according to project reports posted online.

The project, which was initially approved in July 2013 with a budget of $420 million, was downgraded from yellow to red following an option that approved several adjustments in scope at a contentious project Board of Directors meeting on July 9.

A new Special Project Report 4 was due on July 20, 2020, has not been posted online.

California Universities to Test COVID-19 Exposure Notification App

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The California Department of Public Health (CPDH) and the California Department of Technology (CDT) are partnering with UC San Diego and UC San Francisco to pilot an app that could inform individuals when they may have been exposed to COVID-19.

Photo by Brian McGowan on Unsplash

The mobile app, called Exposure Notification Express, has been designed by Apple and Google to use bluetooth technology to confidentially alert individuals when they are in close proximity to someone who has tested positive for the virus, provided that the individual has shared their test results with the app.

Faculty, staff, and the student body at both UC San Diego and UC San Francisco will test the app in a month-long trial period beginning at the end of September.

While the app does not collect data or share user information, individuals would need to opt-in to use the app if and when it becomes available to the public, according to CDT Director Amy Tong.

The Exposure Notification Express app will serve as a necessary supplement to California’s COVID-19 testing system, which failed to register roughly 750,000 positive tests back in August.

California to Roll Out New COVID-19 Reporting System in October

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California will roll out a new COVID-19 reporting system in October after it awarded a renewable six-month, $15.3-million contract to healthcare technology OptumInsight, Inc., the state announced this week.  The announcement follows a recent failure of the state’s infectious disease registry CalREDIE to accurately report testing data, which reportedly resulted in the Department of Public Health director’s resignation last month.

“This system will reduce labor-intensive collection processes and minimize delays in reporting data so that public health experts across the state have swift access to the tools and data they need to prevent COVID-19 transmission and respond to new cases and outbreaks,” said State Chief Information Officer Amy Tong in a statement.

California will soon have plenty of test results to report, store, and analyze. Last week, Gov. Newsom announced a $1.4-billion contract with Massachusetts-based diagnostics company PerkinElmer to increase California’s COVID-19 testing from 100,000 to 250,000 per day.

CalREDIE suffered a significant glitch in July that caused COVID-19 cases to be underreported, which in turn led Gov. Gavin Newsom to prematurely announce “early good signs” in an Aug. 3 press conference.

DGS Measures Benefits of Teleworking

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When the COVID-19 outbreak in March forced most state workers to telework indefinitely, the Department of General Services (DGS) took the opportunity to begin a case study tracking the impacts of working from home.  Executives in the department’s IT and human resources divisions collaborated to develop a telework dashboard to visualize activities across the department.

Using a telework dashboard designed in May to track data and habits from its roughly 1,400 workers teleworking either full or part-time, DGS sought to discover the impacts of working from home that may inform the decision to telework even beyond the state-mandated shutdown.

According to DGS, its workers have saved a cumulative 16.4 years of commute time, 200,000 gallons of gasoline (worth approximately $620,000 at the pump), and 1,761 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

In addition to the positive environmental impact, 80 percent of DGS workers polled in a recent survey indicated that they would like to continue teleworking on a permanent basis.

See DGS’ dashboard here: https://telework.govops.ca.gov/tracking-telework/dgs-case-study/

State Chief Data Officer Outlines Vision and Goals for California’s Data Strategy

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Speaking to a Zoom audience of more than 80 people at the CalData Open Meeting on Aug. 12, California Chief Data Officer Joy Bonaguro outlined the future of statewide data strategy and the goals to ensure its effectiveness moving forward.

While data is a tool commonly used in many communities both private and public, it’s still somewhat of a foreign language to many state workers that could otherwise benefit from its use.

Among the biggest challenges listed by Bonaguro in a survey of state employees, ability to find and access data was the primary obstacle, while inconsistency of data terminology and the actual quality of data also proved to be major roadblocks.

Bonaguro mentioned three major strategic goals that, if achieved, could expand the use and efficiency of data in California. Those goals include: streamlining data access, improving data management and governance, and spurring data use and ability.

While those goals appear fairly straightforward, whether or not they can be achieved will come down to the state’s ability to maintain long-lasting and complete data sets, facilitating the open exchange of data between various agencies, teaching data skills, and hiring dedicated data professionals.

Of course, the implementation of data skills and jobs are likely a luxury given the current budget, Bonaguro admitted with a laugh.

“I’m pushing that off, unless something radically changes about my resources right now.”

Bonaguro made one important distinction when discussing exactly who should be driving data work within a department. While technology staff can provide the tools necessary to make use of data, the impetus for driving data must come from business staff.

“In areas where business leadership and executive leadership was engaged, [those surveyed] felt further along,” she said. “This isn’t something you can simply delegate and check off your list.”

If the objective is to create an emphasis on data from the top down, spurring on leadership may include adding the position of data executive to all departments.

“CHSS has a chief data officer, DMV hired a chief data officer . . . Is the chief data officer something we should promote across the state? I don’t know yet, but it’s something we can think about.”

Budget permitting, the push to incorporate data in all aspects of state government has begun.

Newsom creates ‘strike team’ to address problems with unemployment system

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Amid historic COVID-19 related unemployment highs and a day before a contentious Assembly hearing on California’s unemployment system, Gov. Newsom on Wednesday announced the creation of a new strike team to address the backlog of claims and ongoing information-technology related problems.

The California Department of Technology and Office of Digital Innovation will support the effort led by GovOps Secretary Yolanda Richardson and Jennifer Pahlka, former Code for America executive director who now heads U.S. Digital Response, a nonprofit organization helping government agencies respond to the COVID-19 crises.

“The strike team will identify steps to transform the unemployment insurance customer experience for the digital age. Within 45 days, the strike team will deliver a roadmap that outlines short-, mid- and long-term recommendations and solutions to transform the customer experience of applying for and receiving UI benefits,” said the announcement.

Wednesday’s announcement emphasized a new focus on the individuals impacted by the economic downtown. The state’s unemployment level is around 15 percent, with 7.6 million Californians filing claims, adding to $55 billion, according to media reports.

“While we have faced unprecedented challenges this year, unemployment insurance should be a human-centered system that supports people during hard times. From the first contact to final resolution and all communication in between, we are committed making the UI experience better for Californians,” said Julie A. Su, Secretary of the Labor and Workforce Development Agency in a press statement.

An Assembly Budget Subcommittee held a hearing on Thursday where lawmakers were critical of the department’s efforts, including recently signing a no-bid contract with Deloitte consulting.

Video of the 3.5-hour hearing is here: https://www.assembly.ca.gov/media/assembly-budget-subcommittee-4-state-administration-committee-20200730/video

 

 

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Office of Traffic Safety Hires Jessica Chan as CIO

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The Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) has hired Jessica Chan to head up the agency’s IT and administrative divisions.

“We are excited to have Jessica as our new CIO and Chief of Administrative Services at the Office of Traffic Safety,” a California State Transportation Agency spokesperson said in an email to the GovReport.  “Jessica has built a strong relationship within the IT community.  She is a strong technologist and business leader who will focus on enhancing services for the public through technology solutions.”

Image: OTS.ca.gov

Chan, a 2005 graduate of CSU Sacramento, has been with OTS since Nov. 2018, serving as an information technology specialist for just under two years before becoming CIO in June. 

Prior to joining OTS, Chan spent close to nine years as an information systems analyst for the California DMV. 

In addition to a bachelor’s degree in finance and an associate’s degree in economics from CSU Sacramento, Chan received a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Phoenix in 2009.

The CIO position at OTS had been vacant since March, when former CIO Quentin Wright left the role after nearly two years to become the new CIO/CTO for the California Department of Technology.

OTS spends $80 million in National Traffic Highway Safety Administration grants annually to fund traffic safety education and enforcement programs in California, according to its website.

 

Senate Confirms GovOps Secretary Yolanda Richardson

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On June 22, the California state senate confirmed Yolanda Richardson as Governor Newsom’s appointee as secretary for the Government Operations (GovOps) Agency. 

Richardson was appointed in January to lead the super agency that oversees the Departments of General Services, Human Resources, and Technology, among others that fall under GovOps’ oversight. Richardson becomes the second-ever GovOps secretary, succeeding Marybel Batjer, who had previously served in the role since GovOps’ creation in 2013 under Governor Jerry Brown. 

During her Senate Rules Committee confirmation hearing on June 11, Senator Scott Wilk asked Richardson how she expects technology to serve Californians in the future, particularly in the era of  COVID-19.  “I’ve read the Governor’s book, Citizenville, which was during his time as mayor where he took a lot of information and data and programs online to empower citizens,” he said.  “Do you believe that the Department of Technology should prepare for a potential onset of new IT projects, and what are we going to do to guarantee that they’re successful?”

“They should prepare for that,” Richardson said. “The California Department of Technology has realized some successes with using [the Project Approval Lifecycle (PAL)] with IT projects . . . the last 20 IT projects that the California Department of Technology has had oversight for that has utilized [PAL] came in at budget with no creeps in scope.”

Richardson also underscored the importance of the new Office of Digital Innovation, citing California’s new COVID-19 website as a recent example of successful digital innovation.

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