To browse all LAO publications, visit our Publications page.
March 7, 2003 - Hearing handout presented to The Foundation Consortium for California's Children and Youth
February 19, 2003 - The regional housing planning process is not very effective at ensuring the construction of affordable housing or obtaining compliance with state law. As a result, we recommend that the regional planning mandate for councils of government be suspended, pending the enactment of reforms to the process.
February 19, 2003 - We recommend the Legislature suspend the mandate to reimburse local governments for the increased costs resulting from animal control. Furthermore, we recommend the Legislature refer the matter to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee for review.
February 19, 2003 - In November 2002, the voters approved a $2.1 billion housing bond. The General Fund will pay an average of $157 million annually for 30 years to pay for the principal and interest of the bonds. We review the administration's proposal for implementing the bond's provisions and outline potential options for using the bond to help address the budget situation.
February 19, 2003 - The administration proposes to defer the costs of all general government mandates on local governments. By the end of the budget year, the state would owe over $1.2 billion to noneducation local governments. We recommend the Legislature adopt the general policy of either funding its mandate obligations or eliminating the state's liability for the mandate.
February 19, 2003 - The Governor's court security realignment proposal does not constitute a realignment of responsibilities and control over court security, rather, it is a funding source swap. Accordingly, we recommend that the Legislature exclude this component from the Governor's realignment proposal.
February 19, 2003 - We identify factors to weigh in considering which programs would benefit from realignment. Using these factors, we identify $9.1 billion in programs meriting consideration: $5.1 billion of programs proposed by the administration and $4 billion of programs suggested by our office. Because realignment plans are difficult to modify over time, we recommend the Legislature take a long-term view in enacting program and funding changes.
February 19, 2003 - The Governor is proposing an $8.3 billion total tax increase to fund his realignment program and reduce the General Fund's budget shortfall. This proposal would raise the sales and use tax by one percentage point ($4.6 billion), establish 10 percent and 11 percent high-income tax brackets ($2.6 billion), and raise the cigarette tax by $1.10 per pack ($1.2 billion).
March 15, 2002 - Chapter 107, Statutes of 2001 (AB 38, Strom-Martin), requires the Legislative Analyst’s Office to undertake a study of these special districts. In this review we find that while some individual districts have pursued controversial policies, there is no evidence of a statewide structural governance problem.
February 20, 2002 - We recommend the Legislature delete $50 million proposed to reimburse local governments for the POBOR mandate in the budget year. We recommend the Legislature refer the matter to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC) for review and recommendation on possible revisions to the mandate's parameters and guidelines.
February 20, 2002 - We recommend the Legislature set aside funding for the AB 3632 program mandate--"Services to Handicapped Students"--pending development of a new program of county mental health services for special education pupils.
February 20, 2002 - We provide a history of the VLF tax reductions and an explanation of the distribution of the revenues. We also answer many common questions regarding the VLF—including information about the insufficient moneys provision in current law.
February 20, 2002 - We discuss the implications of the proposal in the Governor's Budget to delay reimbursement of the $66.7 million budget-year appropriation for the School Bus Safety II mandate and suspend six other education mandates.
February 6, 2001 - Realignment, enacted in 1991, transferred various mental health, health, and social services programs from the state to county control. It also altered program cost-sharing ratios, and provided counties with dedicated tax revenues to pay for these changes. Although realignment has been largely successful, we recommend implementation of several changes including a simplified allocation structure for new revenues that relies on a single formula.