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Rules Committee advances FisCal director nominee after review of onboarding progress and timelines
Summary
The committee voted to forward Brett Lodding’s nomination to be director of the Financial Information System for California (FisCal) after questions on deferred departments, timeline to full migration and lessons learned from prior onboardings.
The Senate Rules Committee advanced the nomination of Brett Lodding, JD, to lead the Financial Information System for California (FisCal), the statewide enterprise financial system, after a confirmation hearing that reviewed progress on department onboardings, the accounting book of record migration, and modernization steps.
Why it matters: FisCal is California’s central financial system intended to replace numerous department-specific accounting systems. Its progress affects reporting, timeliness of financial closes and public transparency of state spending.
Lodding, who began the role several months earlier, told the committee FisCal has completed most onboarding work and is moving toward the accounting book of record migration set for next July. “Much has improved about fiscal in the past several years and a lot of measurable progress has been made,” he said, citing OpenFiscal and recent onboarding milestones.
Senators asked for concrete counts and timelines. Lodding said there were originally 10 deferred departments; two were onboarded last year, two more were in progress as of the hearing (including Caltrans and the Department of Justice), leaving about six deferred departments and roughly 14 departments remaining depending on how the count is made. He said roughly 151 departments have been onboarded and that the legislative roadmap anticipates completing deferred onboardings by approximately 2032.
Committee members pressed on lessons learned from a long implementation process. Lodding described refinements to the onboarding approach, including more training, improved previewing of systems and stronger interagency collaboration with the State Treasurer, Controller, Department of Finance and Department of General Services. He highlighted near-term efficiency enhancements planned for the year, including electronic invoicing and electronic funds transfer to reduce manual processes.
On technology lifecycle questions, Lodding said FisCal’s core software (PeopleSoft/Oracle and Hyperion) has vendor support expected for about another 10 years and that the department is migrating components to the cloud in phases. He said a broader modernization effort would be planned after the accounting book of record migration and subsequent stabilization period.
Formal action: Senator Laird moved to forward the nomination to the Senate floor for final confirmation. The committee recorded an initial 4–0 vote with the roll kept open and later closed the roll at 5–0.
The committee advance moves the nomination to the full Senate; the confirmation is pending that floor vote.
