Can We Reduce Silos in California Government?

Suggestions for the Next Governor

About now, Governor Bacerra and his team are receiving lots of advice about policies, priorities, appointments, and best practices – some of which may even be helpful.  CLEE has added its two cents with CLIMATE & ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, PROCESS, AND GOVERNANCE:  Advice for California’s Next Governor.  We have approached the topic with humility, understanding that the Governor and new Administration face many challenges and have lots of priorities.

Based on experience of the authors and contributors in the Brown and Newsom Administrations, we do want to highlight an on-going and gnarly problem built into the complexity of the executive branch in California:  overlapping jurisdiction of state agencies and departments can be a significant barrier to action. Immediately establishing the expectation from the Governor that agency leads and staff must work together collaboratively and constructively is essential to overcoming bottlenecks, encouraging collaboration, and ensuring alignment of public investments with climate and environmental goals.

To this end, and based on the collective experience of the authors and contributors, we make the following suggestions (detailed in the document):

1.A CONVENE “CLIMATE PRINCIPALS” TO WORK ON COMMON GOALS. Governors Brown and Schwarzenegger established an ad hoc group of “Energy Principals. Something similar should be considered across the full spectrum of climate change issues.

1.B CONVENE STATEWIDE OFFICERS TO WORK ON COMMON GOALS. California’s Attorney General, Treasurer, Controller, Insurance Commissioner, and Superintendent of Public Schools are statewide elected officers who oversee functions outside the control of the Governor.  Regular meetings could result in collaborative initiatives (and it would be a break from tradition).

1.C MEET PERIODICALLY WITH LEGISLATIVE LEADERS AND COMMITTEE CHAIRS. The state budget, new state programs, and statutory requirements all require passage by the Legislature. Periodic meetings with legislative leaders and relevant committee chairs to discuss environmental and climate priorities can help to build legislative support for the Governor’s priorities and inform the Governor of legislative leadership’s priorities.

1.D LEAD THROUGH GOVERNOR’S OFFICE COORDINATION. Governor Schwarzenegger created a position in the Governor’s Office to accelerate development and implementation of large-scale solar projects (and Governor Brown followed suit). The designee clearly communicated the governor’s priorities and commanded all parties’ attention. This approach can and should be replicated for one or more key governor priorities – for example, the siting of transmission lines associated with renewable energy; coordinated wildfire mitigation and response; or managing energy and water impacts of the data center buildout.

1.E BUILD COLLABORATIVE FUNCTIONS INTO AGENCY BUDGETS. Agency and department budgets include limited, if any, funding for agency staff to work directly with other agencies. As a result, coordinating and collaborating with other agencies can be perceived as uncompensated additional workload. The Governor’s Office should work with Government Operations Agency and CalHR to develop a path for staff to allocate time to relevant cross-agency collaborative work.

1.F BROADEN AGENCY LEADERSHIP TO ACHIEVE CLIMATE GOALS. AB 32 and many of the climate change laws that followed gave the California Air Resources Board (CARB) primary responsibility for the State’s actions on climate change. The next phases of the State’s transition require explicit and thoughtful inclusion of issues that fall under the experience of other agencies, including land use, carbon management, agriculture, health, renewable energy and energy storage, promotion of beneficial fire, economic development, and job training and workforce development. CARB should fully integrate that expertise.

1.G LEVERAGE AND EMPOWER THE EXPERTISE AND STAFF IN THE GOVERNOR’S OFFICE. The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) and the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (LCI, formerly OPR) sit within the Governor’s Office and have responsibility for zero-emission vehicle and clean technology market development and land use and environmental review and resilience programs, respectively, among other areas. The Governor can ensure that these departments have the leadership, capacity, and authority to convene relevant agencies to develop clear energy and economic transition plans.

With strong direction and leadership, the new Administration can avoid at least some of the silo pitfalls and thereby accelerate implementation of climate solutions.