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1,034 Publications Found
March 24, 2026 - This report lays out various options to raise and lower taxes in California and offers a comparative evaluation of those options in the areas of budgeting, economy, taxpayer experience, progressivity, and fairness.
March 18, 2026 - This report discusses the State Water Resources Control Board’s (SWRCB’s) proposed—and long-overdue—update of the water quality control plan for the San Francisco Bay-Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which includes an alternative compliance pathway for certain water users called voluntary agreements (VAs, also known as Healthy Rivers and Landscapes). Given that SWRCB appears likely to adopt the update including VAs, the report provides recommendations for legislative oversight to help ensure the plan achieves its objectives.
March 2, 2026 - In this report, we analyze the Governor’s budget for Medi-Cal, with a focus on base spending trends, changes to provider taxes, implementation of new H.R. 1 rules, oversight over enacted budget solutions, and considerations for identifying additional savings in Medi-Cal.
February 23, 2026 - For over three decades, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has faced litigation for providing unconstitutional levels of prison mental health care, in part due to chronic vacancies among mental health staff. In this report, we provide an overview of CDCR’s mental health system, assess ongoing efforts to address mental health vacancies as well as additional steps that could be taken to reduce vacancies, and make recommendations aimed at bolstering the state’s ability to recruit and retain sufficient mental health staff.
January 28, 2026 - This report discusses ongoing implementation of California’s Family First Prevention Services program since 2021-22. The report provides background regarding California’s child welfare system and how it is funded, describes the Department of Social Services’ progress in developing and overseeing the state’s new child welfare prevention services program, describes counties’ plans for implementing child welfare prevention services at the local level—as well as some challenges they have faced—and provides some considerations and options for the Legislature moving forward.
January 6, 2026 - Chapter 442 of 2024 (SB 98, Portantino) requires our office to report on the effects of changing the student count methodology of the Local Control Funding Formula and other K-12 education programs from average daily attendance to student enrollment. In this report, we provide our assessment of such a shift, describe a few policy alternatives that maintain the attendance-based system, and identify key issues for the Legislature to consider if switching to enrollment-based funding.
December 10, 2025 - This report focuses on the California State University’s (CSU’s) Graduation Initiative 2025 (GI 2025). This initiative aimed to increase graduation rates and close gaps in graduation rates among particular student groups by 2025. In the report, we provide background on GI 2025, then discuss associated funding and activities. Next, we analyze the outcomes and assess the benefits and drawbacks of GI 2025. Lastly, we make recommendations for the Legislature to consider as it contemplates its involvement in CSU’s next graduation initiative.
December 10, 2025 - This report focuses on the Strong Workforce Program, which the state created to increase the availability and quality of career technical education at the California Community Colleges. We provide background on the program, assess its implementation and outcomes, and raise a few issues to consider relating to coordination of workforce development programs more broadly.
October 24, 2025 - We describe the changing fiscal and policy landscape for Medi-Cal resulting from Congressional enactment of H.R. 1 and the key issues facing the Legislature.
June 16, 2025 - This report is the first of a three-part series focused on trends in the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program. Each part of the series focuses on an area of the program, beginning with this report on participant characteristics. The series provides an overview of the major changes to CalWORKs in recent decades and highlights key issues for Legislators to consider when making CalWORKs policy and budget decisions.
June 12, 2025 - In this report, we provide background on trends in retail theft over the past decade, discuss some of the possible contributors to these trends, describe recent retail theft-related law changes, and outline key questions that the Legislature may want to ask as it continues to provide oversight of this issue.
April 10, 2025 - In this report, we describe how the Legislature has delegated some of its core powers to allow the Governor to exercise emergency authorities during a state of emergency. Next, we assess the degree to which this is necessary to facilitate emergency response and whether there are adequate oversight mechanisms in place. Finally, we make various recommendations intended to allow the Legislature to exercise more of its core powers and ensure there is adequate oversight of the Governor during emergencies.
April 10, 2025 - Reserves allow the state to ensure stable funding for its services over time, even when revenue fluctuates unpredictably. Over the last few years, the state has indeed experienced significant fluctuations—large surpluses followed by significant deficits. This volatility has prompted interest in changes to the state’s reserve policy. In this report, we assess proposed changes by the Governor to the state’s reserve policy and put forward our own recommendations that would allow the state to save enough in reserves to be able to afford its core service level over the long-term.
February 5, 2025 - This report assesses $1.8 billion in behavioral health infrastructure grants awarded in 2022 and 2023 to help the Legislature conduct oversight over $4.4 billion in additional grants funded by the Proposition 1 bond expected to be awarded beginning May 2025.
December 10, 2024 - This report examines recent trends in age 15 to 44 mortality and breaks out this growth by underlying causes of death. It also takes a closer look at some of the major causes of death and notes some key issues for legislative consideration.