The 2022-23 Budget: Clean California Local Grant Program

The 2022-23 Budget: Clean California Local Grant Program FEBRUARY 2022 Summary. The Governor’s budget proposes to provide roughly 200 grants, with a maximum $100 million General Fund in 2023-24 award for each grant set at $5 million. All funded (budget-year-plus-one) to support an additional projects are required to be completed by year of local litter abatement and beautification June 30, 2024. grants administered by the California Department Caltrans Required to Submit Report on of Transportation (Caltrans). We recommend the Project Outcomes. Budget trailer legislation Legislature reject this proposal given that it is adopted as part of the 2021-22 budget package— premature to expand grants before data on project Chapter 81 of 2021 (AB 149, Committee on outcomes are available from the grants funded in Budget)—requires Caltrans to report to the the current and budget years. Legislature on the outcomes of CCLGP projects, as well as state beautification projects, as part of Background the 2022-23 and 2023-24 budgets. The reports Clean California Initiative Includes Funding shall include information on the amount of litter for Local Litter Abatement and Beautification collected, the locations of projects, and the types Projects. The 2021-22 budget package included of activities funded. a total of about $1.1 billion General Fund over a three-year period for the Clean California Governor’s Proposal Initiative—specifically, $475 million in 2021-22 and Proposes Funding for CCLGP in 2023-24. 2022-23 and $146 million in 2023-24. The primary The Governor’s budget proposes $100 million goal of the initiative is to increase litter abatement from the General Fund in 2023-24 for CCLGP. This efforts by Caltrans and local entities and to would provide an additional year of funding for the support state and local beautification projects. program after the budget year. We estimate this As shown in Figure 1, the funding for the would support roughly 70 additional grants. initiative supports four different activities. This includes $148 million in 2021-22 and 2022-23 ($296 million over the two years) for a new competitive program— Figure 1 Clean California Local Grant Recently Approved Funding For Program (CCLGP)—administered Clean California Initiative by Caltrans to support local litter abatement and beautification (In Millions) projects on streets and roads, Activity 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 tribal lands, parks, transit centers, and other public spaces. Clean California Local Grant Program $148 $148 — State beautification projects 144 144 — Caltrans issued a call for projects Caltrans litter abatement 139 139 $139 in December 2021 and intends Administrative support 28 28 7 to award the full $296 million Public education campaign 17 17 — for CCLGP in March 2022. The Totals $475 $475 $146 amount awarded is expected Caltrans = California Department of Transportation. 2022-23 Budget Series 1 Assessment CCLGP is warranted. This is because the report will be released soon after grants are awarded Proposal Requests Additional Funding for and will only be able to provide a high-level Grants Before Project Outcome Information overview of awarded projects and estimated Is Available. As mentioned earlier, Caltrans outcomes. Before determining whether to fund is statutorily required to report on key project additional grants, we find that it will be important outcomes of CCLGP as part of the 2022-23 and for the Legislature to have data on outcomes from 2023-24 budgets. Given that CCLGP is a new completed projects. This information likely will program, the reported outcomes are intended to become available as projects near their required provide the Legislature with information on how June 2024 completion date. effectively the program met its core objectives, which could then be used to guide future Recommendation funding decisions. The Governor’s proposal Reject Additional Funding for CCLGP requests additional funding before the reporting Until More Data on Project Outcomes Are requirements are completed, making it difficult at Available. We recommend the Legislature reject this time for the Legislature to assess the merits the Governor’s proposal to provide an additional of providing funding to expand the program in $100 million for CCLGP in 2023-24. As mentioned budget-year-plus-one. above, the program already will receive $148 million The administration indicates that it will submit in the budget year. Expanding the program an a report to the Legislature this spring that will additional year before data on project outcomes provide an update on state beautification and are available is premature. Based on the reported CCLGP projects. However, this report likely will not outcomes, the administration could request the provide sufficient information for the Legislature additional funding proposed for 2023-24 as part of to determine whether additional funding for the budget process for that year. 2022-23 Budget Series 2 2022-23 Budget Series 3 LAO PUBLICATIONS This post was prepared by Frank Jimenez and reviewed by Anthony Simbol. The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) is a nonpartisan office that provides fiscal and policy information and advice to the Legislature. 2022-23 Budget Series 4