September 12, 2024 - The 2024‑25 budget package provides a total of $17.8 billion from various fund sources—the General Fund, a number of special funds, bond funds, and federal funds—for the departments overseen by the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) and California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA). This amount represents about half of total 2023‑24 estimated expenditure levels. This significant year-to-year decrease is primarily due to a large amount of one-time funding—mostly from the General Fund—available for the departments within both agencies in 2023‑24, including large amounts of funds carried over from prior years. As discussed in this post, many departments continue to receive some one-time funding augmentations in 2024‑25, but at notably lower aggregate levels. Despite the year-to-year decline in funding, the 2024‑25 totals exceed the historical levels of funding that these agencies received prior to the state experiencing General Fund surpluses in recent years.
January 26, 2022 - In this brief, we provide our initial assessment and recommendations in response to the Governor's wildfire resilience package, which would provide $1.2 billion over two years (including $800 million of new funding) for proposals intended to reduce the risk of severe and damaging wildfires.
October 16, 2023 - The 2023‑24 budget package provides a total of $19.2 billion from various fund sources—the General Fund, bond funds, a number of special funds, and federal funds—for programs administered by the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) and Environmental Protection Agency. This is a net decrease of $15.5 billion (45 percent) compared to 2022‑23 estimated levels. This change is primarily due to a large amount of one-time funding—mostly from the General Fund—provided to departments within both agencies in 2022‑23.
February 5, 2021 - This publication provides an overview of and our initial comments on the Governor's 2021-22 package of proposals—totaling $1 billion—to reduce the risk of severe and damaging wildfires. (See also our publication The 2021-22 Budget: Wildfire Resilience Package—Analysis of Individual Programs for more detailed information and comments on each component of the package.)
April 16, 2021 - On April 13, 2021, the Governor signed SB 85 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), which amends the 2020-21 Budget Act to provide additional funding for various wildfire and forest resilience activities. This post provides a brief summary of this funding package.
February 27, 2025 - Presented to: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 2 on Resources, Environmental Protection and Energy
February 19, 2025 - Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 4 on Climate Crisis, Resources, Energy, and Transportation
February 5, 2021 - This publication provides detailed information and our initial comments on each component of the Governor's 2021-22 package of proposals—totaling $1 billion—to reduce the risk of severe and damaging wildfires. (See also our publication The 2021-22 Budget: Wildfire Resilience Package for an overview of and our initial comments on the package.)
August 31, 2021 - This handout provides background information on recent wildfire resilience-related budget actions. It also provides an update on the administration’s progress thus far towards committing the funding provided in the April 2021 Wildfire and Forest Resilience Early Action Package to specific projects and activities.
October 10, 2022 - The 2022-23 budget package provides a total of $23.7 billion from various fund sources—the General Fund, bond funds, and a number of special funds—for programs administered by the California Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Agencies.
Update (11/17/22): Estimated federal allotments to SWRCB have been updated to $760 million.
February 18, 2020 - Presented to: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee Hon. Holly J. Mitchell, Chair
January 31, 2022 - This brief describes and assesses the Governor's 2022-23 water resilience and drought response funding proposals.
May 13, 2021 - For the second consecutive year, the state is experiencing extremely low rates of precipitation. As we prepare for what could be an extended period of dry conditions, it is helpful to review how the state responded to the last major drought. Such information can inform—and thereby potentially improve—the state’s current and ongoing response to developing conditions. In this report, we summarize the major activities, spending, and policy actions undertaken by the state to respond to the severe drought that occurred from 2012 through 2016. We also describe current conditions, and highlight some key lessons the Legislature can learn from previous efforts to help guide its response to the emerging drought.
February 14, 2019 - In this report, we assess several of the Governor’s budget proposals in the natural resources and environmental protection areas. Based on our review, we recommend various changes, as well as additional legislative oversight. We provide a complete listing of our recommendations at the end of this report.