Report What If California’s Drought Continues? By Ellen Hanak, Jay Lund, Jeffrey Mount, Peter Moyle ... Aug 19, 2015 California is in the fourth year of a severe, hot drought—the kind that is increasingly likely as the climate warms. Although no sector has been untouched, impacts so far have varied greatly, reflecting different levels of drought preparedness. Urban areas are in the best shape, thanks to sustained investments in diversified water portfolios and conservation. Farmers are more vulnerable, but they are also adapting. The greatest vulnerabilities are in some low-income rural communities where wells are running dry and in California’s wetlands, rivers, and forests, where the state’s iconic biodiversity is under extreme threat. Two to three more years of drought will increase challenges in all areas and require continued—and likely increasingly difficult—adaptations. Emergency programs will need to be significantly expanded to get drinking water to rural residents and to prevent major losses of waterbirds and extinctions of numerous native fish species, including most salmon runs. California also needs to start a longer-term effort to build drought resilience in the most vulnerable areas.
Report Pretrial Detention and Jail Capacity in California By Sonya Tafoya Jul 22, 2015 California’s persistently overcrowded jails are facing additional challenges now that public safety realignment has shifted many lower-level offenders from state prisons to county supervision. Jail capacity challenges are prompting a reconsideration of California’s heavy reliance on holding unsentenced defendants in jail pending trial—known as pretrial detention. The legal rationale for pretrial detention is to ensure court appearances and preserve public safety. But California’s high rates of pretrial detention have not been associated with lower rates of failure to appear or lower levels of felony rearrests. This report concludes that pretrial services programs—if properly implemented and embraced by the courts, probation, and the jails—could address jail overcrowding and improve the efficiency, equitability, and transparency of pretrial release decision making.
Report Alternatives to Incarceration in California By Ryken Grattet, Brandon Martin Apr 17, 2015 Three-plus years after implementing a major realignment of its public safety systems, California continues to face pressure to reduce both its prison and jail populations. California relied on some alternatives to custody-based punishment before realignment but it has been expanding its use of others. Current research on the effects of incarceration and its alternatives offers a general endorsement of the idea that increasing reliance on community-based alternatives is not likely to result in large increases in crime and recidivism. The evidence suggests that the effectiveness of both incarceration and community-based supervision depends on a number of factors, including the rate of incarceration in a given community, the offender characteristics, and the nature of the response to violations during and after supervision. Finally, intensive data collection on county implementation efforts can help the state identify the community-based strategies that produce the best outcomes.
Report Implementing California’s School Funding Formula: Will High-Need Students Benefit? By Laura Hill, Iwunze Ugo Mar 12, 2015 The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) reformed California’s K–12 school finance system. It replaced a patchwork of formulas and specific (or "categorical”) programs with a focus on local control, funding equity, and additional support for the large share of students (63%) who are "high needs"—that is, low-income, English Learner, and/or foster care youth. However, there are still concerns about whether the new funding will reach high-need students. Because districts have spending flexibility, and because some of the extra funding for high-need students is based on their districtwide enrollment levels, it is possible that high-need schools in districts with relatively low overall shares of high-need students will not get the funding they need. Our research indicates that county offices of education—which are charged with assisting districts in developing and achieving accountability plans—may have extra work to do in parts of Southern California, the Bay Area, and Sacramento to ensure that extra state funding improves outcomes of high-need students who are not evenly distributed across district schools.
California Counts, Report California’s Newest Neighborhoods By Joseph Hayes, Hans Johnson Aug 20, 2003 Examines the characteristics of California's newest residential developments -- those created in the 1990s. Documents number of developments, locations and growth patterns, type of housing, household demographics, traffic and commutes, and regional variations.
Report Cities Under Pressure: Local Growth Controls and Residential Development Policy By Paul Lewis, Max Neiman Jan 1, 2002 Some critics have argued that local growth controls are a major cause of the state’s housing shortfalls and affordability problems. In Cities Under Pressure: Local Growth Controls and Residential Development Policy, Paul Lewis and Max Neiman probe this argument by examining the residential development policies of California’s cities. Focusing on local efforts to control the amount, type, and location of new housing, the authors use a variety of data sources--including a detailed survey of almost 300 city planning officials in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Central Valley--to investigate which communities adopt growth controls and why. Their findings indicate that most growth management policies are understandable responses to the cross-pressures experienced by city officials.
press release Pursuit Of Sales Tax Revenues Driving Development Decisions In California Cities Jul 8, 1999
