LAO Rejects

The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) recently reviewed a relatively small item in the governor's January budget proposal involving $20 million over five years for four science and engineering institutes that were created by the legislature in 2000 (and which you may not have known existed). The institutes are shown below. Here is an excerpt from the LAO's report:

UC’s Four Institutes Focus on Research and Economic Development. Originally established by Chapter 79 of 2000 (AB 2883, Villaraigosa), each of UC’s four institutes is a multicampus endeavor focused on research in select science and engineering fields. ...(T)wo of these institutes involve northern California campuses and two involve southern California campuses. All campuses except UC Riverside participate in at least one institute. Each institute oversees facilities across its participating campuses that contain specialized research laboratories. Much of the research that occurs at the institutes is conducted by collaborative teams of researchers from UC and private industry. The institutes also support many other initiatives intended to foster innovation and entrepreneurship and connect UC students to job experiences and opportunities...

The Governor’s budget provides $20 million one-time General Fund to the institutes. The proposed provisional language indicates the funds could be used to (1) provide students with stipends to enable them to connect with industry employers and (2) for research teams to form industry partnerships. The proposed language indicates that these partnerships are intended to better align educational programs and workforce needs. UC would have five years to spend the funds. The proposed language does not specify other key parameters for the funds, such as student eligibility and the size of the stipends. These matters would be left for UC to determine...

Full LAO review at: https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2021/4394/Cal-Institutes-Science-Innovation-030221.pdf

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Not surprisingly, LAO wants more detail, more justification, and more alignment with other state policies regarding workforce development. One presumes that the origin of this item was somewhere within UC. The report concludes, "we recommend the Legislature reject the $20 million in one-time funding for the institutes and redirect those funds toward higher one-time state budget priorities." Whether the legislature will follow that recommendation is unclear.