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4,628 Publications Found
January 12, 2011 - The Governor's proposed budget plan addresses an estimated $25.4 billion state budget problem—consisting of an $8.2 billion deficit that would remain at the end of 2010-11 absent additional budgetary action and an estimated $17.2 billion gap between current-law revenues and expenditures in 2011-12. We believe the Governor's proposal is a good starting point for legislative deliberations. It includes reductions in nearly every area of the state budget and a package of revenue proposals that merit serious legislative consideration. We credit the Governor's efforts to craft a budget plan that focuses on multiyear and ongoing solutions, and his proposals to realign state and local program responsibilities and change local economic development efforts have much merit. Still, there are some significant risks in his plan and some optimistic savings assumptions. There is significant work ahead to fill in the details of some of the Governor's ambitious, complex proposals, particularly given his proposed accelerated timeline for budget deliberations and a June special election concerning extensions of tax increases.
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
December 22, 2010 - We reviewed the recently ratified labor agreements with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1000, the largest state employee union. The administration estimates that the state's net savings under the proposed agreements will be $383 million ($164 million General Fund) in the current fiscal year—compared with costs negotiated in prior Local 1000 memoranda of understanding (MOUs). The administration’s estimates are generally reasonable, but we (1) discuss concerns we have with the administration’s assumption that leave days will not result in overtime costs or productivity losses, and (2) compare the MOUs’ costs with the previous three-day-per-month furlough program. Finally, we discuss the current status of state employee collective bargaining and major employee compensation policies currently affecting executive branch employees.
December 16, 2010 - Current law requires the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) to report annually to the Legislature certain information related to real estate fraud cases in counties that participate in the Real Estate Fraud Prosecution Trust Fund Program. The report must also include information on the types of expenditures made by the law enforcement agencies of those counties. Our review found that, by 2009-10, 21 counties had reported data indicating their participation in the program at an annual statewide cost of about $10 million, with significant variation in expenditures from county to county. In this report, we further analyze this data and offer recommendations to clarify a 10 percent cap on administrative costs incurred in the program as well as to modify the current program reporting requirements.
December 10, 2010 - Presented to: Hon. Robert Dutton, Senator, 31st District.
December 7, 2010 - On December 6, 2010, Governor Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency and called the new Legislature into special session to address the anticipated 2010‑11 General Fund deficit—estimated by our office at $6.1 billion. The Governor’s special session proposals would decrease the gap between General Fund revenues and expenditures by $1.9 billion in 2010‑11 and by $8 million in 2011‑12, thereby reducing the $25.4 billion budget problem that we have identified to $15.5 billion. The Governor's proposals consist of $7.4 billion of expenditure-related reductions and two major revenue proposals. Essentially all of these proposals were rejected earlier this year by the prior Legislature. The Governor also proposes to transfer vehicle weight fee revenues to the General Fund. This would achieve an estimated $850 million in budget solutions in 2010‑11 and $727 million in 2011‑12 by reimbursing the General Fund with weight fee revenues for certain transportation bond debt service costs, and also loaning a portion of the weight fee revenues to the General Fund. Under the proposal, the fuel tax revenues that would have helped the General Fund prior to Proposition 22 would now be available for transportation programs.
November 10, 2010 - California's Fiscal Outlook: Proposition 98 stakeholder briefing.
November 10, 2010 - Three short webcasts summarizing our 2011-12 Fiscal Outlook publication. Includes: (1) Overview, (2) Revenue and Economic Outlook, and (3) Proposition 98.
November 10, 2010 - Our forecast of California’s General Fund revenues and expenditures shows that the state must address a budget problem of $25.4 billion between now and the time the Legislature enacts a 2011‑12 state budget plan. The budget problem consists of a $6 billion projected deficit for 2010‑11 and a $19 billion gap between projected revenues and spending in 2011‑12. Similar to our forecast of one year ago, we project annual budget problems of about $20 billion each year through 2015‑16. We continue to recommend that the Legislature initiate a multiyear approach to solving California’s recurring structural budget deficit. In 2011‑12, such an approach might involve $10 billion of permanent revenue and expenditure actions and $15 billion of temporary budget solutions. In 2012‑13, 2013‑14, and 2014‑15, another few billion of permanent actions each year could be initiated, along with other temporary budget solutions, and so on until the structural deficit was eliminated.
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.
November 9, 2010 - Presented to Assembly Public Safety Committee
November 4, 2010 - The 2010–11 state spending plan includes total budget expenditures of $117.4 billion from the General Fund and special funds. This consists of $86.6 billion from the General Fund and $30.9 billion from special funds. While this level of budgeted General Fund spending is far below the $103 billion recorded in 2007–08, it is $203 million—0.2 percent—higher than in 2009–10. Spending from special funds, however, is budgeted to be $7.5 billion—32.3 percent—higher than in 2010–11, driven mainly by recent changes in Medi–Cal and transportation funding that were enacted in part to offset costs in the General Fund. In addition, the budget assumes spending from bond funds of about $8 billion as the state continues to allocate moneys from the $43 billion bond package approved at the November 2006 election. The budget plan (including gubernatorial vetoes) includes the following actions: $7.8 billion of expenditure–related solutions; $5.4 billion of new federal funding; and $3.3 billion of revenue actions.
November 4, 2010 - Presented to: Joint Legislative Audit Committee Hon. Alyson Huber, Chair