California Performance Review Questions and Answers

What was CPR’s mission – what did it actually do?
CPR’s mission was spelled out by the Governor in his State of the State address on January 6, 2004 and in his Executive Order of February 10, 2004. In the Executive Order, he created the California Performance Review to conduct a focused examination and assessment of California state government. Based on that examination and assessment, CPR’s mandate was to formulate and recommend practical changes to government agencies, programs and operations to reduce total costs of operations, increase productivity, improve services and make government more responsible and accountable to the public. More than 250 state employees from all walks of state service worked on developing specific recommendations to make those things happen.

Does this “blow up boxes?”
Yes, but only if it improves the way California works. CPR found that state government is not structured in the best way to do the job entrusted to it by the people. The new structure is aligned by function, consolidates administrative services and focuses on service and quality.

Is the governor behind this effort?
In his State of the State address on January 6, 2004, the Governor called for a massive reinvention of state government. On February 10, 2004 he issued an Executive Order creating CPR. We look forward to presenting this report to him.

How much money will CPR recommendations save the state?
There is the potential to save billions of dollars if these recommendations are implemented. Many of the savings come from consolidating duplicative functions. Others come from leveraging the state’s buying power to make major purchases less costly. Still others come from improved productivity. The Governor, working with the Cabinet, the Legislature and others, will ultimately decide how much money we can save the state.

How much money will it cost to implement CPR’s recommendations?
The savings from each of the recommendations takes into account the anticipated implementation costs. In addition, the Performance Review has recommended setting aside an additional $100 million from the first year’s savings to assist with the implementation of the reorganization.

Will state workers lose their jobs as a result of CPR?
The state is in a precarious position because we risk losing 70,000 employees – or about 1/3 of the state workforce – to retirement within the next five years. We have no choice but to figure out how to do more with fewer people. The changes implemented from CPR will affect every employee differently, but the priorities remain good customer service, delivered by good state employees.

How much did CPR itself cost the state?
It cost less than $10 million all of these costs were redirected from existing budgets.

Was CPR’s effort done in secrecy?
Absolutely not. We met with more than 1,800 people – citizens, businesses, unions, trade associations – anyone who had an idea. We took recommendations via the Internet. And cabinet officials, the legislature and others have been briefed on CPR’s progress periodically.

What efforts did you make to gain public input?
Throughout the course of their research, CPR analysts interviewed, surveyed, questioned and otherwise interacted with about 1,800 people, from government reform experts, to experienced state staff, to citizens, to business owners.

Will there be public hearings?
Absolutely. The CPR Commission will facilitate the public input process of the California Performance Review and will conduct public hearings throughout the state.

When will the CPR Commission be formed and begin work?
The CPR Commission was named June 28, 2004 and is comprised of 21 leaders from state and local government, the business and labor communities, and public policy experts, representing a broad range of interests and many years of combined experience. CPR will submit its recommendations to the Governor, who will then direct the Commission to conduct public hearings throughout the state to gather testimony.

When will the reorganization take place, now that CPR missed its deadline?
The CPR had, and continues to have, several windows of opportunity for presenting a reorganization plan. There was one such window of opportunity in May, which gave CPR staff less than 60 days to come up with a comprehensive reorganization plan. CPR decided to take more time to more fully flesh out its proposals. Now that it has done so, its reorganization plan can be submitted during any window of opportunity.

What happens to the recommendations now?
CPR will submit its recommendations to the Governor. The Governor will then direct the CPR Commission to conduct public hearings across the state to gather public input.

How long will it take to implement CPR’s recommendations?
These are simply recommendations to the Governor, and each requires a different implementation process.

How do these recommendations make government more accountable?
Many of CPR’s recommendations are designed to make the government process more transparent. That is, to make government processes more easily accessible and understandable. That, in turn, makes government more accountable. In addition, CPR’s performance-based budgeting recommendations call for funding state agencies and departments based on their outcomes, thus holding management of those departments accountable for performance. Some of CPR’s customer service recommendations would require that customer service standards be established, published and measured by each department, and that each department periodically report to the public how well they’re meeting those standards.

Does this consolidate “multiple departments with overlapping responsibilities?”
Yes. CPR’s reorganization plan focuses on grouping functions together, not departments. For example, the reorganization of infrastructure consolidates over 50 programs scattered throughout government into one department.

Does this abolish boards and commission that serve no pressing need?
Yes. CPR has recommended abolishing 119 boards and commissions and eliminating or consolidating their functions. This will save, by conservative estimates, at least $15 million per year. Some boards have important functions that will be consolidated elsewhere.

Does this modernize the state’s archaic and expensive purchasing program?
Absolutely. CPR’s recommendations regarding procurement literally revolutionize the way the state would acquire goods and services from vendors by leveraging the state’s purchasing power to get the best possible prices for those goods and services and by developing statewide standards for the acquisition of goods and services. The recommendations also ensure against paying ridiculous prices like the age-old example of the $50 hammer.

Is this the end of CPR? What happens now?
The work product of CPR is a thorough and aggressive review of government with over 2,000 pages of analysis and recommendations. The first priority is to get input from the public on this massive body of work. The California Performance Review will continue by working on implementing the recommendations of the report or developing new recommendations.

What happens to the 260 people that worked on CPR?
The CPR effort has already started to downsize. The majority of the team members of Corrections and Public Safety have returned to their former jobs. In the coming days and weeks, the CPR staff will return to their departments or new assignments. The CPR effort itself will retain for the short-term immediate future a core staff to help with the implementation of the recommendations. The exact number will be a function of the needs of the Commission and the process used for the final adoption of the recommendations.


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