Kiley spoke at length about the state’s problems with the Employment Development Department (EDD) and the California Department of Motor Vehicles, as well as the hurdles faced by the private sector, education and state government generally in navigating the protocols brought on by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Here is a recap of that phone interview, edited for style and brevity.
Techwire: What’s your agenda for the Tech Caucus in the coming months?
Kiley: The Tech Caucus doesn’t really do a whole lot. I’ve gone to a couple of their functions, but I’m the vice chairman of the Privacy Committee, so that’s really the main platform I have to engage in issues that are relevant to tech.
Techwire: What’s your outlook for the next nine to 18 months in state IT procurement?
Kiley: There’s going to be a lot of interest in trying to modernize the technology behind EDD’s systems, since there’s been so many problems there, and we’ve seen some other states that have moved toward iterative, cloud-based solutions that are delivering much better results. So, EDD is such a mess, we’re going to have to do a lot to get that agency straightened out. I think that one of the top priorities has to be getting something more functional in terms of their software system.
Techwire: How would you characterize the progress in the past year with the modernization of the Department of Motor Vehicles?
Kiley: The DMV’s problems have not gone away. It remains mired in a previous decade or a previous century. Frankly, that’s true of much of the state bureaucracy – there’s just a huge amount of inertia when it comes to updating the way business is done. I’ve tried to be an advocate for taking some of the practices from the private sector – which continue to improve, constantly – and integrating them into government.
Techwire: What’s your outlook for some emerging technologies, such as geographic information systems (GIS), blockchain and artificial intelligence?
Kiley: Some of the other states that have moved to cloud-based solutions are working with California companies, like Amazon, so that would be one source of collaboration. Things like blockchain – I know we’ve done a little bit of that in California, trying to support that. (Assembly Majority Leader) Ian Calderon sponsored a couple of bills along those lines. But a lot of what we need to do is not really super-sophisticated. The barriers are not even technological; they’re bureaucratic. There’s no reason why it should take 11 years to update EDD’s software system. I understand that there’s been a huge influx of claims, beyond even what we could imagine (due to the COVID-19 pandemic), but this lethargy certainly pre-exists this particular crisis. … I’ve been talking a bit with folks at EDD, and we’re hoping to move them in the direction that other states have gone.
Techwire: You’ve co-sponsored a bill to redirect money from California’s high-speed rail project to education. How would you allocate education funding for technology?
Kiley: A lot of our education finance system is local control, so according to the Local Control Funding Formula, the allotment for each district is not necessarily earmarked for one purpose or another. It’s provided as a block of funds for the districts to use as they choose. The state still is overly restrictive in terms of the mandates and restrictions it imposes on local districts around hiring and other learning opportunities, for example.
Techwire: On the topic of education amid the COVID-19 pandemic, is distance learning effective for California public schools? And is it sustainable over time?
Kiley: A couple of things: No. 1 is that California should have been doing a lot more to support different learning models – distance learning, blended learning, flip classrooms – before COVID even became an issue. This is the wave of the future in a lot of ways. I took a group of legislators, I think it was 2018, to Khan Academy and looked at what they’re doing. They’re actually partnering with a lot of districts to provide remote learning opportunities for students. I think that’s something we should be doing a lot more of, even in ordinary times. We’ve learned a lot about pedagogy – that the standard model of a teacher standing in front of a classroom and lecturing to 35 kids does not optimize student achievement. Things work a lot better when learning is personalized and feedback is instantaneous, and where instruction can be differentiated based on the progress of each student. So it’s an issue of equity, as well. I have been pushing for the state to do more when it comes to that sort of thing, and this has all been put in very sharp relief, of course, by the necessity of everyone in the state to engage in distance learning, and hopefully this will inspire more political will to move in that direction.
Techwire: You’ve notably argued against AB 398 – the so-called “headcount tax.” Why?
Kiley: It couldn’t be more wrongheaded. We don’t want to give businesses another reason not to operate in California. There’s already enough reasons. This bill is especially strange in that it triggers the penalty on a per-employee basis. It’s like hiring someone is some terrible thing that we want to discourage, and every time you do it, we’re going to fine you. It sends absolutely the wrong message and acts as a disincentive to hiring and job creation. All of that is unhelpful from a revenue standpoint, as well, because if we don’t have businesses operating in California, that causes the state Treasury to take a hit.
Techwire: If you were a tech company CEO, what advice would you give your sales people right now?
Kiley: If they could find a way to bridge the gap between the culture of the private sector and the public sector, that’s probably key. Because right now, the two worlds are really disconnected when it comes to tech. If we could do more to bring the innovative practices in the culture of the private sector into government, we could serve our citizens a lot better.
Techwire: As a former educator, how focused are you on education technology as a priority?
Kiley: Education technology is an area that I’m going to really start advocating for a lot more, now that this is on people’s radar – the sense that we can do things differently. There’s a great deal of innovation out there from education innovation … that would do a lot to close the achievement gap.
Techwire: As a Republican in a Democrat-dominated Legislature, do you get frustrated? How do you maintain your motivation?
Kiley: It’s hard sometimes, given how backwards a lot of the policies we have in the state are and how impervious the legislative process can be to reasoned arguments and publicly motivated decision making. There’s the huge dominance of special-interest groups that have an ironclad grip on the Capitol. That stands as an almost insurmountable barrier to those who want to put forward public-oriented reforms. I can’t say that I was unaware of this when I decided to run for the Assembly. If you’re trying to achieve meaningful change, that’s never going to happen overnight. You just keep fighting, even if you’re knocked down.
Techwire: Looking ahead in your career, are you hoping to remain in the Assembly, or do you have your eye on another office – maybe succeeding U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock in the House?
Kiley: (Chuckles) I’m up for re-election this November, and I hope the voters will trust me with the opportunity to serve them with a third term.
