Digital

Amid a surging pandemic that has ravaged the livelihoods of millions of Californians, and as the state struggles to fix flaws in the unemployment claims system, the state Department of Technology (CDT) has released its strategic plan. It envisions “easy-to-use, accessible and reliable public services that are ready and available wherever and whenever needed,” according to state Chief Information Officer Amy Tong.

With three guiding principles — put people first, continuous, timely improvement, and working together beats working alone — Vision 2023 lays out five goals:

1. Deliver clear, fast, secure and dependable public services
2. Ensure public services are equitable and inclusive
3. Make common technology easy to use, access, share and reuse across government
4. Build digital government more quickly and effectively
5. Build confident, empowered multidisciplinary teams

Released alongside the 2020 CDT annual report and the California Broadband Action Plan, Vision 2023 was developed through a process that engaged consumers, state employees on the frontline, vendors and other stakeholders to ensure that every user’s experience is taken into account, said CDT Chief Strategist Justin Cohan-Shapiro, who led Vision 2023.

“Twenty or 30 years ago state tech was about running services and provisioning hardware,” he said. “Now it is the underpinning of how we deliver government services, whether it’s paying your taxes or getting a driver’s license. The reality is that everyone has an interest in the way we use, design and build it, and we need to make sure they understand it and bring them along.”

Vision 2023 lists several challenges for each goal, put in the form of questions. For Goal #1, for example: “What must we do to ensure critical public services and technology infrastructure are ready for surges, and are resilient and dependable?”

But Vision 2023 does not address how the challenges, like the surge in unemployment cases in 2020 which exposed vast inefficiencies in the state’s antiquated system designed to process claims, might be overcome nor does it list specific initiatives. Instead, the report invites feedback and asks people to join teams and work together as “leaders, doers or advisors” to solve the challenges, which are housed on GitHub to allow the broader technology community to engage in the process, Cohan-Shapiro said.

State Assembly Member Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters), whose Internet for All Act of 2021 would extend and expand funding for broadband connectivity in underserved areas, said she was pleased to see the issue included as part of Goal #2 in Vision 2023. Although she has championed broadband for many years, she said the COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the profound impact of inequitable access as industry, education and other services moved online.

“The inequities raised their ugly head, and we realized how many don’t have access for distance learning, jobs, small businesses and health care,” she said. (The administration) understands the frustrations. They realize the importance of having access to the internet and are very interested in getting something done this year.”

Cohan-Shapiro did not discuss in detail specific challenges or potential solutions but said the gaps exposed during the pandemic, wildfires and other crises have informed the planning process. And he said the state’s response to the crises has demonstrated that it can quickly innovate, even working remotely, to address immediate needs of consumers and government through collaborative, often experimental approaches to problems.

While planning and prioritization are critical in achieving the state’s goals to modernize its technology, he said, velocity is equally important. Rather than invest $1 billion in the overhaul of a system that could fail or become obsolete before it goes online, he said, the state should be able to innovate, test for functionality and quickly create something that can be improved continuously.

That process, he said, needs to be equitable and inclusive, to be effective.

“The more voices we have building our technology that reflect and look like the rest of the state, the better we can meet the moment when it matters most,” he said.

The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed, said Economist writer William Gibson.  The same idea applies to broadband connectivity in California, and the state’s latest action plan aims to literally bring all citizens up to speed.

On December 30, the California State Broadband Council (CSBC) released its “Broadband Action Plan” in response to executive order N-73-20 to provide broadband access to all Californians at home, schools, libraries, and businesses.

“Californians’ ability to access and use broadband became the difference between being able to fully engage in like, and being cut off,” said the CSBC in a letter replying to California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Though, the plan has not come without facing several challenges on top of the current Covid-19 pandemic.

One challenge is availability, with regards to speed and reliability. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defined broadband internet as 200 kbps in 1996, which is only fast enough to send and receive email. The FCC’s last updated definition of broadband increased to a minimum of 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload, which was intended for people engaging in light to moderate internet use. Since then, Californians’ need for high-performance internet has drastically increased.

Another challenge is affordability—at the end of the day, price matters. The CSBC says that it must “account for all of the components in its price tag,” which includes taxes, surcharges, rental equipment charges, service costs, and the cost of devices for getting online. Broadband in the United States is expensive relative to the cost in other countries. The action plan notes how “for a family with a tight budget, it is easy to see how paying for food, electricity, rent, and other necessities would take precedence over purchasing internet services.”

The action plan has three focal points: providing high-performance broadband at homes, schools, libraries and business; giving all Californians affordable access to broadband and devices necessary to connect to the internet; and providing all Californians access to training and support to “enable digital inclusion.”

The council notes that in order to achieve these goals, they must pull from all the state’s available tools, including policy, programs, funding, partnerships, and collaborations with other governments.

According to the action plan, the state needs to further update and modernize their state broadband definition, which will optimize its financial toolkit, simplify deployment, leverage existing assets, and set reliability standards for critical infrastructure. The state must also identify opportunities with government and philanthropic partners to maximize their finances for new infrastructure.

The Council believes that it can make significant progress to help Californians enroll in existing affordable internet programs. For starters, they must work toward developing a framework to define essential broadband service affordability standards and thoroughly evaluate them relative to other essential service costs. Promoting existing state contractual vehicles with internet providers can help support cost savings.

The CSBC will continuously update the plan on an annual—or more frequent—basis through 2025 as directed by Governor Newsom, as the plan will be a live, iterative document. Lead organizations will regularly report their ongoing progress and to the CSBC, and the council will meet with these agencies quarterly to determine the next steps. The council also welcomes and appreciates public input during the plan’s preparation.

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