Introduction

Since 1997, the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs has published annual editions of California Policy Issues featuring chapters on current policy concerns and lessons from California history. Our 2022 edition continues this tradition, featuring chapters on economic conditions, state fiscal policy, ecology, education, criminal justice issues, and more. Leading off, Christopher Thornberg of Beacon Economics looks in the first chapter at the outlook for the state’s economy. He sees threats coming at the macro level from economic overheating and inflation. California is tightly linked to the rest of the U.S., so these macro threats inevitably spill over into the state. And, of course, there is the uncertainty concerning the course of the coronavirus pandemic and policy responses. Economic performance is normally a strong driver of state tax revenue. Hence, the pandemic-related downturn in 2020 might reasonably have been expected to produce a sharp revenue decline. As Daniel J.B. Mitchell points out in chapter 2, in its 2020-21 budgeting, California trimmed its expenditures anticipating just such a drop. But the drop didn’t happen; state revenue is heavily dependent on the state personal income tax and income tax revenue – because it reflects the economic conditions of top bracket earners who were least affected by the pandemic – didn’t fall. Thus, in budgeting for 2021-22, the state had ample reserves which were further reinforced by federal support. If the pandemic was the immediate challenge faced by the state, climate change is the longer-term challenge – one which is already beginning to be felt in the form of destructive wildfires. In chapter 3, Leeza Arbatman, Michael Cohen, Shawna Strecker, and Julia Stein look at policies needed both to prevent such fires and to mitigate the consequences when they do occur. There are programs that could be adopted to encourage homeowners to “harden” their houses against the wildfire risk. A system of fees for those who build in risky areas might produce a revenue source to aid such hardening and also would discourage construction in high-risk areas. There has been increasing concern on upgrading infrastructure, which nowadays includes internet access. In addition, concerns about all forms of health care delivery have increased, and so-called telemedicine has been boosted into prominence by the pandemic. In chapter 4, Eduardo Castillo, Ashley Etter, Isabelle Liu, and Maggie Liu examine the use of internet-based behavioral telehealth in Los Angeles County as well as the provision of such services using conventional telephones (audio only). Their report – based on an Applied Policy Project (APP) for the Luskin School’s Master of Public Policy degree program – suggests that the County should push for adequate reimbursement for telephone consultations and for the widening of broadband access. Apart from health-related services, the internet now provides a way for residents to communicate with their municipal governments. But in chapter 4, another APP team – Eduardo Reyes, Norihisa Niiro, Azami Moriasu, and Jonathan Hagman – find that there is a significant “digital divide” in terms of who has access to, and the equipment needed for, such communication. The authors look at the City of Long 3

Beach and find that while the City has made progress in use of technology, there remain issues of language ability and trust in government. They find that making the methods of contact with the City more widely known and more user-friendly is important to having a complete program of resident-City interaction. Chapter 6 by Joseph P. Bishop points to a problem in the K-12 system in California which is not widely known. Attention is often focused at the K-12 on such issues as testing and curriculum content, but in fact the system services a surprisingly large number of homeless students. Such students have obvious disadvantages when such measures as absenteeism and graduation rates are examined. Bishop notes that the state’s funding formula for K-12 is supposed to target disadvantaged students with additional resources but that its design could be made more directed toward homelessness. We often think that current issues are unique to our times and thus neglect what lessons the past might provide. In earlier editions of California Policy Options, Daniel J.B. Mitchell has traced the rise of Sam Yorty from his initial election as mayor of Los Angeles in 1961. In his first election, Yorty used what might be termed today as “populist” tactics, attacking the downtown elite as personified by the Los Angeles Times. But when he came up for reelection in 1965, he had patched up his quarrel with the elites and received a Times endorsement. There then soon followed the Watts Riot, however, a shock to both the elites and to Yorty. As Mitchell describes in chapter 7, with his principal opponent in the 1969 election Tom Bradley, a city councilmember and former police officer, Yorty – as in 1961 – surprised elite opinion by winning a third term using racial attacks on his opponent. In short, modern tensions over race and populist political tactics are not new. Social unrest, moreover, is certainly not new. Protests and disturbances following the George Floyd murder in 2020 also became political issues. Various jurisdictions within California – as well as the state legislature – became concerned about such matters as criminal justice reform. It has long been noted that county jails often end up housing individuals with major mental health problems. In chapter 8, the APP team of Jess Bendit, Joshua Segui, Courtney B. Taylor, and Rachel Vogt look at possibilities for the County of Los Angeles to divert individuals with such problems away from the criminal justice system. The County does have a Rapid Diversion Program for that purpose. However, the team provides various recommendations for making that program more effective. Part of the challenge, as the authors see it, is making the actors in the system – prosecutors, judges, law enforcement, and defense attorneys – more familiar with, and confident in, the diversion program.

Daniel J.B. Mitchell

Professor Emeritus, UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management and UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs