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41 Publications Found
June 12, 2012 - Letter to Hon. Bob Huff, Senate Minority Leader, providing an updated analysis of "underlying" General Fund expenditures as of February 2012.
January 5, 2012 - Letter to Assembly Member Dickinson regarding the 1) efficiency of small special districts, 2) accountability of small special districts, and 3) effectiveness of Local Agency Formation Commissions (LAFCOs).
August 26, 2011 - This letter reviews a memorandum of understanding between Anschutz Entertainment Group and the City of Los Angeles regarding the financing of a football stadium and new convention hall, as well as two economic analyses of the proposed project.
April 14, 2011 - This letter is a statutorily-required analysis of the community development financial institution (CDFI) tax credit programs.
February 16, 2011 - In our report The 2011-12 Budget: Should California End Redevelopment Agencies? (http://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/2440), we analyzed the California Redevelopment Association’s study regarding the economic effects of redevelopment. We concluded that this study significantly overstated the number of jobs resulting from redevelopment. After publication, the researchers explained to us why they thought two of our three reasons were partly incorrect. The purpose of this letter is to clarify the extent to which we agree and disagree with their observations. While we appreciate the additional information on this study, the information provided does not change our criticisms of the study or our finding that it vastly overstates the employment effects of redevelopment.
February 3, 2011 - This responds to Senator Padilla's request that we conduct an independent review of the Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program at the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (CEC). This program, which will automatically expire unless extended through legislative action, provides grants for research to develop energy technologies that benefit the environment, provide greater electricity system reliability, and lower system costs. We find that (1) the CEC has not demonstrated that there has been a substantial payoff to date from the state’s investment of more than $700 million in ratepayer funds, (2) there is a role for the state to continue to support public interest energy research, and (3) if the Legislature decides that there should be a continuing state role in this area of research, improvements could be made to the implementation of this role, including tightening funding eligibility parameters and changing the process by which research funding is allocated.
January 6, 2011 - This responds to Senator de León's request for additional information on the single sales factor apportionment.
December 22, 2010 - Presented to: Hon. Alan Lowenthal Senator, 27th District
November 9, 2010 - In a previous analysis, we pointed out that the sale-leaseback of state buildings authorized in 2009 legislation was poor fiscal policy and represented one imperfect option among many for balancing the state’s budget. Mainly due to changes in the interpretation of property tax assessments, our forecast of the cost of the sale-leaseback is approximately $800 million greater than our previous analysis. The Legislature may wish to consider whether this increase in costs merits changing course.
August 12, 2010 - At the August 11, 2010 informational hearing of the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee we discussed our preliminary analysis of the conference committee tax swap proposal. This responds to Senator Wolk's request that we provide further information on our analysis.
March 9, 2010 - This responds to Assembly Member De León's request relating to California’s regulatory environment and AB 32 (Núñez), the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Chapter 488, Statutes of 2006). Specifically, you have asked that we analyze the methodologies, data, and reliability of the findings of two studies by Varshney and Associates. In our response, we summarize the methodologies and analyses contained in these two studies, discuss their findings, and provide our assessment of the analyses supporting their conclusions.
March 4, 2010 - This responds to Senator Cogdill's request for an analysis of the net impact on jobs in California that would occur as a result of the implementation of AB 32 (Núñez), the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, Chapter 488, Statutes of 2006. In our response, we briefly summarize the basic provisions of AB 32 and its planned implementation through the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB’s) Scoping Plan (SP), discuss the avenues by which the SP would potentially affect California jobs, and present the jobs-related effects of the SP as estimated by CARB. We then comment on CARB’s analysis and offer our own view about how the SP might affect jobs.
October 30, 2009 - Sent to: Members, Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee and Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee
August 12, 2009 - Memo to Assembly Member Juan Arambula, July 30, 2009. This memo discusses California's debt, deferred payments, and other liabilities that will affect the state’s financial health in the future.
March 13, 2009 - Governor's Reorganization Plan to Consolidate Information Technology Functions