The Careers Project: A Summary with Policy Opinions

The Careers Project is a study of the preparation all students in public middle and high schools receive to explore career options and the relationship between that preparation and California\u27s state and regional economies. The California Research Bureau (CRB) undertook this research at the request of a bipartisan group of members of the California Legislature, with funding support from the James Irvine Foundation

Federal Tax Incentives for Health Insurance

The treatment of health insurance and health care expenses in the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) is the primary means by which the federal government encourages health insurance coverage. For most working Americans and their families, tax treatment of health expenses depends largely on whether their health plan is paid for by an employer, whether they are self-employed, and whether they itemize deductions and have medical expenses that exceed 7.5 percent of their adjusted gross income (AGI)1 This brief describes federal tax incentives for health insurance, and their combined implications for costs and coverage

Campaign Finance Reform

This Issue Summary examines the financing of political campaigns in California over the past twenty years. The materials focus primarily upon state legislative elections which provide a large sample size and allow for generalizations across election cycles. Data from initiative campaigns and statewide elections are used to illustrate key points

A Brief on Biosolids: Options for Biosolids Management

Biosolids are municipal sewage treated to meet federal and state standards required for land application. This paper describes the production and management of biosolids in California; the regulatory framework that controls the use and disposal of biosolids; and, the controversy surrounding their use as a soil amendment and alternatives to the current management practices for biosolids with emphasis on their potential use as a source of energy

Policy and Management Issues Framework: Statewide Portal Project

The purpose of this document is to identify the primary policy and management issues that California will need to address in designing and deploying a state portal or website that is focused on customer needs, secure from unauthorized access, accessible and usable by California\u27s diverse citizenry and business communities, and flexible to accommodate changes in political or administrative environment, changing customer expectations, and new technologies

Ninety Years of Health Insurance Reform Efforts in California

This report will provide an overview of legislative and gubernatorial efforts to increase the number of Californians with health insurance. It will review the state\u27s health care policy for the medically indigent for the period from 1918 until the present, and will describe legislative proposals to increase the number of insured. The review will also indicate whether the proposals were financed by regressive or progressive revenue taxes, fees, or insurance premiums. Over that period, legislators introduced at least 44 measures to reduce the number of medically uninsured people in California. There also were four ballot measures that would have increased health care coverage. The report will also briefly discuss three important issues that are central to increasing the number of insured in California. These are the effects of employer mandates on businesses and the economy, requirements of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and the affects of increasing health care costs on employee-based health care coverage

A Brief on Biosolids: Options for Biosolids Management

Biosolids are municipal sewage treated to meet federal and state standards required for land application. This paper describes the production and management of biosolids in California; the regulatory framework that controls the use and disposal of biosolids; and, the controversy surrounding their use as a soil amendment and alternatives to the current management practices for biosolids with emphasis on their potential use as a source of energy

Better Serving Those Who Serve: California’s LGBT Veterans Speak Out California Department of Veterans Affairs LGBT Veterans Leadership Forum September 26-27, 2014

To better understand California’s LGBT veterans’ needs, California’s Department of Veterans Affairs (CalVet) worked closely with the California LGBT Veterans Leadership Forum Planning Committee to convene the first state LGBT Veteran Leadership Forum. The forum was held September 26-27, 2014, at California State University, Sacramento. CalVet requested that the California Research Bureau (CRB) provide research consultation for pre- and post-event surveys, train facilitators, develop a specialized forum methodology and publish the results. This white paper summarizes the results from the qualitative and quantitative data collected before, during and after the forum