Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Walters: Can Newsom Finally Fix State's Tech Woes?
dan_walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 6 years ago on
April 23, 2019

Share

California is the global capital of technological innovation, but state officials are much more adept at devising catchy names for their big “information technology” projects than actually implementing them.


Opinion
Dan Walters
CALmatters Commentary

The biggest current headache, however, is the Financial Information System for California, dubbed FI$CAL, which has the motto of “one state, one system,” and was launched 12 years ago to be a multi-agency tool for managing money.
Take, for instance, something called “BrEZee,” which is supposed to streamline how the state Department of Consumer Affairs licenses countless thousands of professional workers.
Four years ago, the state auditor’s office concluded “that the BreEZe project has been plagued with performance problems, significant delays, and escalating costs, which based on a January 2015 estimate were $96 million – more than triple the original cost estimate –for implementation of a system at only half of the regulatory entities originally planned for BreEZe.”
Today, the system is still not fully operational and millions of more dollars are being sought to fix its operational problems.
The biggest current headache, however, is the Financial Information System for California, dubbed FI$CAL, which has the motto of “one state, one system,” and was launched 12 years ago to be a multi-agency tool for managing money.

System After System Failing to Meet Timetables for Implementation

It’s swallowed nearly a billion dollars but is so unreliable, the state auditor found, that some state agencies won’t use it to produce accurate reports that the federal government requires for granting funds.
After the auditor’s office released its latest tale of FI$CAL woe this year, state Controller Betty Yee told the Legislature that she is “gravely concerned” that its unreliability could undermine the state’s credit rating.
“We need to pause and direct resources to making FI$CAL work as it was intended to work,” she wrote. “Continuing to push ahead by adding features that do not work or bringing more departments into the troubled system will cost taxpayers exponentially more in the long run.”
So it has gone, system after system failing to meet timetables for implementation, running up huge cost overruns and not working reliably. And yet, the state also cannot continue to use systems that are so old they can’t be serviced and often break down. One reason the Department of Motor Vehicles has become a managerial morass is that its ancient computer system frequently crashes for hours while customers wait in line.
Then-Gov. Jerry Brown created a “task force” to study IT problems early in his second governorship. It reported that it “is optimistic that with the current leadership and institutional commitment to reform, California’s current and future IT projects can and will be more successful.”

We’ve Heard Promises of Fresh Starts on IT Implementation Before

Brown also created a Department of Technology that was to oversee IT projects, rather than have individual departments go it alone. It wrote a “Vision 2020” strategic plan for implementing IT but the problems have persisted.

“While oversight of technology projects can be as boring as watching paint dry, California needs much more than a fresh coat of paint on our management of these projects.”Marc Levine, a Democratic assemblyman from Marin County
Brown’s successor, Gavin Newsom, has pledged to shake things up and proposes in his first budget $36 million to create an “Office of Digital Innovation” that he says will take a more creative approach. “If you like the status quo, you’re not going to like these reforms,” Newsom said.
Meanwhile, a Democratic assemblyman from Marin County, Marc Levine, wants to add still another layer of oversight. His Assembly Bill 1055 would require any big IT project, one costing over $100 million, to have an independent oversight committee.
“While oversight of technology projects can be as boring as watching paint dry, California needs much more than a fresh coat of paint on our management of these projects,” Levine said.
True enough, but we’ve heard promises of fresh starts on IT implementation before, and they’ve all fallen short of actually fixing the problem.
CALmatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

DON'T MISS

5 Reasons Early Voting Is Overwhelmed With Falsehoods

DON'T MISS

Christian McCaffrey Returns to Practice for the 49ers From Achilles Tendon Injury

DON'T MISS

California Sues LA Suburb for Temporary Ban of Homeless Shelters

DON'T MISS

You May Have Blocked Someone on X but Now They Can See Your Public Posts Anyway

DON'T MISS

Some Republican-Led States Refuse to Let Justice Department Monitors Into Polling Places

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Arrest Suspect in Fatal NW Apartment Shooting

DON'T MISS

Fresno Murder Suspect Stopped in Las Vegas, Others Wanted

DON'T MISS

Trump’s Crowds Are Dwindling as His Campaign Winds Down

DON'T MISS

Trump Threatens 25% Tariff on Mexico to Curb Immigration

DON'T MISS

Music Legend Quincy Jones, Architect of Pop’s Greatest Hits, Dies at 91

UP NEXT

Let’s Keep Innovative Partnerships Crucial to Combating Climate Change: Fresno Dairy Manager

UP NEXT

No Matter the Outcome, We Are the True Losers of This Election

UP NEXT

California’s Transition Off Carbon Fuels Could Be a Monumental Disaster

UP NEXT

Don’t Let Liberal Purity Elect Trump

UP NEXT

Newsom Provides Welfare to the Wealthy, Skimps on Anti-Homelessness Programs

UP NEXT

Independent Gen Zers Will Decide Elections From Now On

UP NEXT

America’s Political Divide Shifts from Economics to Education: Fareed Zakaria

UP NEXT

Fresno Unified Reform Is a Must. Force It With a ‘No’ on Measure H.

UP NEXT

Trump’s Biggest Con: Pretending to Support American Workers

UP NEXT

Why Newsom Wants Taxpayers to Waste Millions on Big Hollywood Subsidies

You May Have Blocked Someone on X but Now They Can See Your Public Posts Anyway

49 mins ago

Some Republican-Led States Refuse to Let Justice Department Monitors Into Polling Places

55 mins ago

Fresno Police Arrest Suspect in Fatal NW Apartment Shooting

1 hour ago

Fresno Murder Suspect Stopped in Las Vegas, Others Wanted

2 hours ago

Trump’s Crowds Are Dwindling as His Campaign Winds Down

2 hours ago

Trump Threatens 25% Tariff on Mexico to Curb Immigration

3 hours ago

Music Legend Quincy Jones, Architect of Pop’s Greatest Hits, Dies at 91

3 hours ago

Big Pharma Backs Harris 6-to-1 Over Trump in Presidential Campaign Contributions

3 hours ago

Sanger Men Arrested in Connection with Slingshot Vandalism Spree at Businesses

3 hours ago

What Is Sierra Unified’s Plan to Boost Lagging Student Achievement?

4 hours ago

5 Reasons Early Voting Is Overwhelmed With Falsehoods

This year’s early voting period appears to be far more polluted with election misinformation than those in previous presidential races, acco...

23 mins ago

Voters cast their ballots at Desert Breeze Community Center in Las Vegas during the last day of in-person early voting in Nevada on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. Nearly 75 million people have cast early ballots, making their voices heard amid worry about the process, the outcome and democracy itself. (Bridget Bennett/The New York Times)
23 mins ago

5 Reasons Early Voting Is Overwhelmed With Falsehoods

31 mins ago

Christian McCaffrey Returns to Practice for the 49ers From Achilles Tendon Injury

36 mins ago

California Sues LA Suburb for Temporary Ban of Homeless Shelters

49 mins ago

You May Have Blocked Someone on X but Now They Can See Your Public Posts Anyway

55 mins ago

Some Republican-Led States Refuse to Let Justice Department Monitors Into Polling Places

Gerrick Franklin (pictured), 34, was taken into custody Sunday in Madera County on suspicion of killing Tyler Hamon, 33. (Fresno PD)
1 hour ago

Fresno Police Arrest Suspect in Fatal NW Apartment Shooting

2 hours ago

Fresno Murder Suspect Stopped in Las Vegas, Others Wanted

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, on stage during a campaign rally in Lititz, Pa., on Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. Trump told supporters on Sunday that he “shouldn’t have left” the White House at the end of his term during an end-of-campaign rally where he vented angrily about a spate of new public polls showing him losing ground to Vice President Kamala Harris and joked about reporters being shot at. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
2 hours ago

Trump’s Crowds Are Dwindling as His Campaign Winds Down

Search

Send this to a friend