State Budget Condition Publications

The 2023-24 Budget: Overview of the Spending Plan (Preliminary Version)

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August 16, 2023 - This publication provides a preliminary overview of the 2023-24 Budget Act, gives a brief description of how the budget process unfolded, and then highlights major features of the budget.

Overview of the Legislature’s Budget Package

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June 14, 2023 - Presented to: Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review

The 2023-24 Budget: Multiyear Budget Outlook

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May 23, 2023 - This brief presents our office’s independent assessment of the condition of the state General Fund budget through 2026‑27 under our forecast of revenues and spending, assuming the Governor’s May Revision policies were adopted.

The 2023-24 May Revision: LAO Analyses

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May 15, 2023 - As our office publishes responses to the Governor's 2023-24 May Revision, we will add them to this index page.

The 2023-24 Budget: Initial Comments on the Governor's May Revision

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May 15, 2023 - On May 12, 2023, Governor Newsom presented a revised state budget proposal to the Legislature. (This annual proposed revised budget is called the “May Revision.”) In this brief, we provide a summary of and comments on the Governor’s revised budget, focusing on the overall condition and structure of the state General Fund—the budget’s main operating account.

Whether or Not to Tap Reserves to Solve Estimated Budget Problem Emerges as Key Fiscal Decision Facing California’s Legislature

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April 19, 2023 - Through the final months of the 2023-24 budget process, California’s Legislature will make numerous important decisions regarding the allocation of state resources in the context of a budget problem. Few choices will be as consequential for the state’s medium-term fiscal outlook as whether or not to draw upon its budget reserves to close a projected deficit.

The 2023-24 Budget: Multiyear Assessment

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February 15, 2023 - This brief provides our current assessment of the scale of the coming budget problems under the Governor’s budget proposals. We also provide our guidance to the Legislature about how to address these shortfalls given current economic conditions.

The 2023-24 Budget: Overview of the Governor’s Budget (Assembly Handout)

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February 8, 2023 - Presented to: Assembly Committee on Budget

The 2023-24 Budget: State Appropriations Limit Estimates

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February 1, 2023 - This post provides a brief summary of the administration’s state appropriations limit-related estimates under the Governor’s budget.

The 2023-24 Budget: Overview of the Governor’s Budget (Senate Handout)

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January 18, 2023 - Presented to: Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review

The 2023-24 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

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January 13, 2023 - On January 10, 2023, Governor Newsom presented his proposed state budget to the Legislature. In this report, we provide a brief summary of the proposed budget based on our initial review. In the coming weeks, we will analyze the plan in more detail and release several additional budget analyses.

How Program Spending Grew in Recent Years

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January 5, 2023 - This handout explores how program spending increased since 2013-14. We focus on trends in spending since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Inflation Poses Not So New Budget Risk

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December 15, 2022 - Persistent high inflation presents federal and state policymakers with an economic problem not seen in roughly four decades. In fact, during much of the past 15-year period, inflation not only was subdued, it consistently ran below the Federal Reserve’s (the Fed’s) target of 2 percent. Chronically below-target inflation eventually prompted the Fed in August 2020 to adjust its policy framework to combat this tendency. Not long after, however, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation trends and the Fed’s orientation to them began to reverse. Once it emerged, inflation accelerated throughout 2021 and has remained elevated this year with as yet indeterminate signs of abating.

The 2023-24 Budget: Considering Inflation's Effects on State Programs

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November 16, 2022 - This brief takes a case study approach to examine how elevated inflation has already impacted—and could continue to impact—state spending programs.

The 2023-24 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

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November 16, 2022 - Our annual Fiscal Outlook publication gives our office’s independent assessment of the California state budget condition for the upcoming fiscal year and over the longer term. In this report, we anticipate the state will have a $24 billion budget problem to solve in the upcoming fiscal year and operating deficits declining from $17 billion to $8 billion over the multiyear period. The goal of this report is to help the Legislature begin crafting the 2023‑24 budget. Our analysis relies on specific assumptions about the future of the state economy, its revenues, and its expenditures. Consequently, our estimates are not definitive, but rather reflect our best guidance to the Legislature based on our professional assessments as of November 2022.

Update (11/22/22): The original version of this report identified a $25 billion—instead of a $24 billion—budget problem, which reflected an error in the way we accounted for student housing grant program funding.