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What Will California Do for Boards Left Off the BreEZe System?

The Department of Consumer Affairs' licensing and enforcement system, called BreEZe, has moved into the maintenance and operations phase — but that does not mean the work is done.

The Department of Consumer Affairs' (DCA) licensing and enforcement system, called BreEZe, has moved into the maintenance and operations phase — but that does not mean the work is done.

After the project was re-scoped in 2015, only 18 of 37 boards and bureaus under the department's purview migrated onto BreEZe due to schedule delays and cost overruns. That left 19 without a long-term solution; many are still using DCA's legacy system, known as the Applicant Tracking System.

That's still the case today, although there appears to be a few emerging possibilities.

"For the remaining entities they will be going through the project approval lifecycle process as required by the California Department of Technology. From this process, the appropriate technology will be determined to fit their business requirement needs. While we anticipate some will end up on BreEZe, the process will ultimately determine the best solution," a DCA spokesperson emailed to Techwire this week.

Some lawmakers and DCA officials also have speculated that the remaining boards could potentially utilize or piggyback off of a software platform for licensing from Accela that DCA will stand up for the cannabis industry by 2018.

"It seems now that some will be rolling out in BreEZe for their Release Three [remaining boards], and some will maybe will transition to some other platform," State Sen. Jerry Hill said during a legislative hearing on Monday. Hill added that the eventual cost needs to be considered.

Troubles with BreEZe made headlines two years ago after the project's total cost jumped to roughly $96 million from an initial $28 million estimate. Officials said the project was more complex than anticipated and the boards and bureaus had individual business needs and workflows that made the centralized system difficult to develop.

But if Monday's hearing rings true, the boards and bureaus using BreEZe appear to be more bullish about their system.

State Board of Optometry Vice President Donna Burke said her organization "is very, very satisfied with BreEZe. She said when the project was initially discussed, she was "concerned because there was a significant amount of staff time being devoted to it, but it is beneficial to consumers, as well as to the licensees and staff."

Jason Kaiser of the Physical Therapy Board of California noted that while BreEZe was expensive, it's an investment and he said the board understands that costs will continue year to year and that staff will continue to work regularly on change requests and improvements.

Here are other developments on BreEZe:

Two weeks ago Assemblymember Jay Obernolte, R-Big Bear, introduced legislation (AB 1190) that would require an annual report to the Legislature beginning in 2018. The report would include DCA's plans for migrating the remaining 19 boards to a new system.

Via a budget letter, DCA is requesting $16.7 million during fiscal year 2017-18 for continued maintenance and operation of the BreEZe system.

Here's a list of 19 board and bureaus that didn't migrate to BreEZe:

(1) Acupuncture Board
(2) Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists
(3) Bureau of Automotive Repair
(4) Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair, Home Furnishings, and Thermal Insulation
(5) Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education
(6) California Architects Board
(7) California Board of Accountancy
(8) California State Board of Pharmacy
(9) Cemetery and Funeral Bureau
(10) Contractors’ State License Board
(11) Court Reporters Board of California
(12) Landscape Architects Technical Committee
(13) Professional Fiduciaries Bureau
(14) Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and Hearing Aid Dispensers Board
(15) State Athletic Commission
(16) State Board of Chiropractic Examiners
(17) State Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind
(18) Structural Pest Control Board
(19) Telephone Medical Advice Services Bureau

Matt Williams was Managing Editor of Techwire from June 2014 through May 2017.