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Talk to any California legislator about the budget deficit the state is facing, and you might hear a familiar refrain: It’s not just about new programs. It’s also how well existing laws are working.
But that can be difficult to track — for the public and lawmakers, alike.
Many new laws include homework for relevant state and local agencies: A deadline to report back to the Legislature about the performance of the new program or commission. The Legislature, itself, says these reports “provide crucial oversight to ensure effective implementation of programs.”
But more than 70% of the 1,118 reports due in the past year were not submitted to the Office of Legislative Counsel, the public repository for the reports, according to a CalMatters analysis of its records. And about half of those that were filed were late. (About 230 were reports required from multiple agencies.)