The 2021-22 Spending Plan: Other Provisions

September 23, 2021 - This post discusses features of the state's spending plan that were not covered elsewhere in the 2021-22 Spending Plan series.

The 2023-24 Budget: One-Time K-12 Spending Proposals

February 16, 2023 - In this brief, we provide our analysis and recommendations regarding the administration’s proposals for using available 2021-22 Proposition 98 funds.

The 2022-23 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions

September 27, 2022 - This post discusses features of the state's spending plan that were not covered elsewhere in the 2022-23 Spending Plan series.

The 2022-23 Budget: Federal Tax Conformity for Federal Business Assistance

January 26, 2022 - This 2022-23 budget post provides background on federal COVID-19 business assistance programs and describes the Governor’s proposal to modify state tax laws as they relate to some of these grant programs. This post also provides some comments to the Legislature on the Governor’s proposal.

The 2021-22 Spending Plan: Higher Education

October 11, 2021 - This budget post summarizes the state’s 2021‑22 spending package for higher education. It is part of our Spending Plan series. In this post, we cover spending for the California Community Colleges (CCC), California State University (CSU), University of California (UC), student financial aid, California State Library, and certain initiatives that crosscut the education segments.

Correction (6/10/22): Totals for on-going and one-time UC core funding have been corrected.

The 2023-24 Budget: California Student Aid Commission

February 23, 2023 - In this brief, we analyze the Governor’s budget proposals relating to the California Student Aid Commission. We cover Cal Grants, Middle Class Scholarships, Golden State Education and Training Grants, Golden State Teacher Grants, and state operations.

The 2023-24 Budget: Proposition 98 Overview and K-12 Spending Plan

February 7, 2023 - In this brief, we analyze the estimates of the Proposition 98 guarantee in the Governor’s budget and assess the overall structure of the Governor’s plan for K-12 funding.

The 2021-22 Spending Plan: Health

October 22, 2021 - The spending plan provides $33.7 billion General Fund for health programs. This is an increase of $6.7 billion, or 25 percent, compared to the revised 2020‑21 spending level. This year-over-year increase primarily is due to significant growth in projected General Fund spending in Medi-Cal. About two-thirds of the increase in General Fund Medi-Cal spending reflects technical budget adjustments (for example, adjustments due to projected caseload increases), while the remaining one-third reflects a large number of discretionary policy augmentations.

The 2022-23 Budget: Fuel Price and Other Fiscal Relief Options

May 12, 2022 - In response to increasing prices across the economy—particularly fuel prices—the Legislature is contemplating a number of policies for providing fiscal relief to Californians. In this post, we identify key questions for the Legislature to consider when analyzing the merits of the options proposed by the Governor and in designing its own relief package.

The 2022-23 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

January 13, 2022 - On January 10, 2022, Governor Newsom presented his proposed state budget to the Legislature. In this report, we provide a brief summary of the proposed budget based on our initial review. In the coming weeks, we will analyze the plan in more detail and release several additional budget analyses.

Update (1/21/22): Includes a corrected estimate of Governor’s Budget proposals that are excludable under the State Appropriations Limit (SAL).

The 2022-23 Budget: Health Care Access and Affordability

February 23, 2022 - This brief focuses on access to health insurance coverage and the affordability of health care costs. We (1) assess various Governor’s proposals intended to improve health care access and/or affordability—including expanding Medi-Cal eligibility to undocumented residents between ages 26, reducing Medi-Cal premiums to zero cost, establishing the Office of Health Care Affordability, and reducing the cost of insulin through a state partnership; (2) discuss options to improve affordability of health plans purchased through Covered California; and (3) highlight some key access and affordability challenges that remain to address.

Correction (2/24/22): Figure 2 - Number of undocumented residents has been corrected.

^[PDF] The 2021-22 Budget: Small Business Grants

January 22, 2021 - This handout assesses the Governor's proposal to expand a recently created small business grants program by $575 million.