Brown Announces Appointments for Top Health, Budget Positions

On Tuesday, Gov.-elect Jerry Brown (D) appointed Diana Dooley (D) as the next secretary of California's Health and Human Services Agency, the Sacramento Bee reports.

Dooley currently serves as president and CEO of the California Children's Hospital Association and previously worked as a special assistant to Brown during his previous term as governor (Siders, Sacramento Bee, 12/8).

Dooley will replace Kim Belshé, who has held the HHSA secretary post since 2003 (Anderson, Fresno Bee, 12/7).

Job Duties

In her new role, Dooley will be involved in the implementation of the federal health care reform law. She will serve as one of five members on the board that will manage California's health insurance exchange (Sacramento Bee, 12/8).

Dooley's other job duties will include:

• Administering Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program;
• Managing more than 33,000 employees;
• Overseeing HHSA's annual budget of about $25 billion in state funds and nearly $60 billion in federal funds; and
• Running health programs for children living in low-income households (Goldmacher/York, Los Angeles Times, 12/8).

For additional coverage of Dooley's appointment, see today's Capitol Desk post.

Matosantos Reappointed To Budget Post

Also on Tuesday, Brown announced that he would retain Ana Matosantos (D) as director of the state Department of Finance.

Matosantos joined Brown's transition team after stepping down as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) finance director on Monday. Schwarzenegger appointed Chief Deputy Finance Director Cynthia Bryant to replace Matosantos for the remainder of his term (Sacramento Bee, 12/8).

Before joining Schwarzenegger's administration, Matosantos served as a consultant to the Senate Committees on Health and Human Services and Budget and Fiscal Review (Capitol Weekly, 12/7).

Confirmation Needed

Both Matosantos' and Dooley's positions require Senate confirmation (Buchanan, San Francisco Chronicle, 12/8).