Innovation awards.

Existing law authorizes the Department of Human Resources to make awards to current or retired state employees for proposing procedures or ideas that are adopted and put into effect and result in eliminating or reducing state expenditures or improving operations, or for making exceptional contributions to the efficiency, economy, or other improvement in the operations of state government. This bill would require the Governor to designate 3 state agencies to participate in a pilot program in 2015 to award cash prizes to eligible participants in innovation contests. The bill would require each designated state agency to establish and administer an innovation contest, as prescribed, and, on or before January 1, 2016, award a prize of up to $25,000 to a participant the state agency determines to have submitted the entry that best addresses the subject of the contest, in accordance with standards established by the state agency, and has the highest likelihood of being adopted and placed in effect. The bill would appropriate $75,000 from the General Fund to the Governor for allocation to the designated state agencies for those awards. The bill would require, if the designated state agency deems that no participant has addressed the subject of the contest, or if it awards a prize of less than $25,000, that unawarded prize money revert to the General Fund.