Vision of California's Future

What will California be like in 2025?

The Public Policy Institute of California ²  gives us a glimpse of California’s future:

• California’s Future Economy -- CALIFORNIA WILL PROVIDE 20 MILLION JOBS BY 2025.  Between 2005 and 2025, employment of wage and salary workers in California is expected to grow by 36%.  EMPLOYMENT WILL SHIFT FROM MANUFACTURING TO SERVICE-RELATED INDUSTRIES.  The services industry represented 37% of the economy in 2005, and the share is expected to increase to 40% by 2025.  Government employment will decline slightly from 17% to 16%.  CALIFORNIA’S FUTURE ECONOMY IS LIKELY TO PROVE LESS TAXING ON INFRASTRUCTURE.  The industrial shift will likely ease some of the infrastructure challenges created by growth in the population and economy.  EDUCATION NEEDS OF THE WORKFORCE WILL RISE SUBSTANTIALLY.  The shift toward service‐related industries from manufacturing will increase demand for college‐educated workers.  If these trends continue, employment projections suggest that the share of workers with a college degree will need to increase from 30% in 2000 to 39% in 2020.

• California’s Future Population -- BY 2025, CALIFORNIA WILL GAIN BETWEEN 7 AND 11 MILLION NEW RESIDENTS.  Natural increase (the excess of births over deaths) and immigration will be the key drivers of this growth.  By 2025, 30 percent of the state’s residents will be foreign‐born.  LATINOS WILL ACCOUNT FOR AN INCREASINGLY LARGE SHARE OF THE POPULATION.  Latinos are projected to become the largest racial/ethnic group in the state by 2020 and to constitute a majority by 2050.  THE POPULATION WILL GROW OLDER.  California’s population will continue to age as life expectancies increase and baby boomers begin to reach retirement age in 2011.  By 2030, the number of seniors will double and one in every five Californians will be over age 65.

• Other Aspects of California’s Future -- CALIFORNIA SPENDS ABOUT AS MUCH ON INFRASTRUCTURE AS THE NATIONAL AVERAGE.  GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS HAVE BECOME INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT.  CALIFORNIA HAS MORE THAN $60 BILLION IN DEBT − AND THAT AMOUNT IS GROWING RAPIDLY.  ADDITIONAL FACILITIES ARE NEEDED AT COMMUNITY COLLEGES .  .  .  AND THE SAME IS TRUE FOR UNIVERSITIES.  CALIFORNIANS SPEND A DISPROPORTIONATE SHARE OF THEIR INCOME ON HOUSING.  MANY CALIFORNIA COMMUNITIES FACE SIGNIFICANT RISKS OF FLOODING.  FLOOD RISKS ARE ALSO A CONCERN FOR THE STATE’S WATER SUPPLIES. 
  

What might it be like to live in California in 2018?

Suppose you were moving your family to California in the year 2018.  What might that experience be like? It could be something like this …

Moving to California – 2018

Imagine a place where you could obtain any government service by accessing your own personalized home page. Cathy Johnson and her family were looking to relocate to California to care for her ailing parents. During Cathy’s last visit she saw a billboard advertising a government home page for every Californian. Intrigued by the concept she created a page for each of her family members and was astonished at how many services were available online. She was able to apply for jobs and was offered a position after participating in a virtual interview. Cathy’s son, Jeff, applied to colleges, was accepted, and coordinated his entire transition to campus life through his page. Cathy’s husband, Tom, planned to start his own business in California and was able to buy a startup company from the resources available on his site. Being the avid outdoorsman that he is, Tom was also able to apply for his fishing license and is planning the next family trip to Yosemite. The entire family was able to upload their medical records to ensure a smooth transition of their medical care. Cathy even set up pages for her parents. They were able to research home care resources for her mother and obtained veterans services for her father.

How will state government improve the lives of future Californians?  

This is the central question that motivates the IT Strategic Plan.  The OCIO was established to provide leadership in the use of information technology.  The state CIO is a partner with Agency Secretaries in using technology to further the business interests of California government.  The over-arching goal of this partnership is to improve the delivery of government services that satisfy the needs of residents, businesses and public agencies. 

In collaboration with the state’s IT professionals, the CIO is the strategic planner and architect for California’s information technology programs and the leader in advancing a vision for those programs.  As a community of interest around the effective use of IT, we have focused on six Strategic Concepts that drive the state’s performance toward excellence over the next decade. 

The Six Strategic Concepts are:

• IT as reliable as electricity – Allowing business decision-makers to focus on business operations with the expectation that their IT needs will be provided for by a professional IT organization.
• Fulfilling Technology’s potential to transform lives – Open and accessible online government services ensure that the state is meeting the expectations of the people it governs.
• Self-Governance in the digital age – The greatest value from the state’s use of IT is the ability to engage residents and businesses on their terms at a time and place of their choosing. 
• Information as an asset – State agencies have a wealth of data and information that, if properly interpreted and mobilized, can be used to better inform the public.
• Economic and Sustainable – By aligning the state’s operations, agenda and goals to be relevant and applicable in perpetuity, we are able to balance the demands of today with the challenges of the future.
• Facilitating collaboration that breeds better solutions – No one entity has a monopoly on good ideas.  Enabling communication between stakeholders, external and internal to government, is essential to open and accountable government.

To realize the integration of the six strategic concepts with the business and IT functions in California state government, state entities submitted their first ever Five-Year IT Capital Plans (ITCP) to the OCIO and the Department of Finance.  Included in the ITCPs are concept proposals for IT projects needed to support departments’ and agencies’ programs and business processes over the next five years. 

These IT project concept proposals establish the mechanism for ensuring that the state’s IT investments support: 

• The state’s business needs and priorities
• The program requirements of the departments and agencies
• Alignment with at least one of the Strategic Concepts

A list of the OCIO-approved IT project concept proposals will be included in Volume 2 to be released in January 2009.

These Strategic Concepts and their strategies, goals and actions, along with the IT Capital planning process, will keep California at the forefront of technology in delivering programs required from government.  By reviewing the goals and actions, developed by work-groups of CIOs from agencies and departments, we have discerned themes that transcend individual strategic concepts and converge as statements of direction for information technology in California government.  The converging themes include the following:

The converging themes include the following:

• Expand access to government services and information
  • Provide online self-service options to residents and businesses.
  • Make public information accessible, reliable and usable.
  • Promote government accessibility and transparency.
• Enhance government Accountability and Performance
  • Ensure information sharing among agencies to enhance decision-making while engaging and empowering Californians.
  • Transform technology infrastructure to support current and future demands for more robust online services.
  • Establish technology platforms to promote performance management.
• Promote Public Safety, Continuity of Operations and Information security And Privacy Practices
  • Modernize the state’s communication systems and technology infrastructure to ensure public safety and the continuity of government operations. 
  • Assure consistent information security and privacy protection practices.

With this as a prelude, California’s IT Strategic Concepts for the future begin on the next page.