November 14, 2018 - Senate Health Committee and Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 3 on Health and Human Services
April 3, 2024 - Presented to: Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Human Services
March 15, 2021 - The California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) proposal is a far-reaching set of reforms to expand, transform, and streamline Medi-Cal service delivery and financing. This post—the fourth in a series assessing different aspects of the Governor’s proposal—analyzes CalAIM proposals targeted at seniors and persons with disabilities, including new benefits and structural changes to how long-term services and supports (LTSS) are administered. (LTSS include, among other supports and services, institutional care in nursing homes and home- and community-based services such as home care and personal care services.)
November 7, 2024 - Beginning operations 20 years ago, the University of California (UC) Merced has grown to a campus of approximately 9,100 students and 2,500 faculty, staff, and student employees. In this report, we explore major campus developments related to UC Merced's enrollment, student outcomes, faculty and staff, facilities, and finance. We then assess the extent to which UC Merced has fulfilled certain key objectives, including raising educational and economic outcomes in the San Joaquin Valley. We conclude the report by identifying key state-level takeaways from the UC Merced experience that could help inform the Legislature as it undertakes future higher education planning.
January 5, 2011 - Various "snapshot" pieces of information, providing a broad overview of public finance and program trends in the state. It consists of a series of charts and tables which address questions frequently asked of our office.
October 17, 2019 - From the General Fund, the 2019-20 spending plan provides $26.4 billion for health programs and $15.5 billion for human services programs—an increase of 18 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively, over estimated 2018-19 General Fund spending in these two policy areas. Major health-related policy actions include the reauthorization of a tax on managed care organizations (which will reduce the above-noted General Fund health spending by $1 billion, pending federal approval) and over $400 million General Fund for state-funded subsidies for health insurance purchased on the individual market through Covered California. Major human services-related policy actions include General Fund support to increase CalWORKS cash grants and most developmental services provider rates, and to restore previously reduced service hours in the In-Home Supportive Services program. The spending plan also reflects the deposit of $700 million into a safety net reserve (bringing its balance to $900 million) that can be used for future CalWORKs and/or Medi-Cal expenditures.
November 14, 2018 - The budget is in remarkably good shape. Under our estimates of revenues and spending, the state’s constitutional reserve would reach $14.5 billion by the end of 2019-20. In addition, we project the Legislature will have nearly $15 billion in resources available to allocate in the 2019-20 budget process. The Legislature can use these funds to build more reserves or make new one-time and/or ongoing budget commitments.
The longer-term outlook for the state also is positive. Under our economic growth scenario, the state would have operating surpluses averaging around $4.5 billion per year (but declining over time). Under our recession scenario, the state would have enough reserves to cover a budget problem—provided the Legislature used all of the available resources in 2019-20 to build more reserves.
Along with the Fiscal Outlook, you can find a collection of other fiscal outlook material on our fiscal outlook budget page.
March 6, 2025 - The senior caseload in Medi-Cal has grown about 40 percent since the COVID-19 pandemic. This brief explores the causes of this growth and raises issues we think merit legislative oversight.
May 5, 2021 - This budget and policy post responds to legislative requests for our office to estimate the costs of expanding comprehensive Medi-Cal coverage to all otherwise eligible Californians regardless of their immigration status. We estimate that nearly one million undocumented immigrants would gain full coverage under this expansion. Assuming a January 1, 2022 implementation, we estimate that the additional cost of expansion would be $790 million General Fund ($870 million total funds) in 2021-22. On an ongoing basis, we estimate the additional cost of the expansion would be $2.1 billion General Fund (nearly $2.4 billion total funds). Both our caseload and cost estimates are subject to significant uncertainty and rest on a number of key assumptions. Moreover, our ongoing estimates would be expected to change over time with medical inflation and changes in caseload and utilization.
February 15, 2023 - In this brief, we provide some basic background on the Department of Developmental Services and a high-level overview of its proposed 2023-24 budget. We then raise oversight issues for legislative consideration.
February 13, 2024 - This brief provides an overview of the Governor’s proposed budget for the Department of Developmental Services and analyzes proposals to delay service provider rate reform and create a new Master Plan for Developmental Services. We then raise oversight issues for legislative consideration.