The 2021-22 Budget: Initial Comments on the Governor’s May Revision

May 17, 2021 - The funds will be transferred soon, but the state has until December 31, 2024 to use the funds. The U.S. Department of the Treasury recently released detailed guidance with more detail on how these funds can be used.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4432

U.S. Retail Sales Update: April 2021 [EconTax Blog]

May 14, 2021 - March ’s gain was the second largest in at least 25 years, trailing only May 2020, when the stay-at-home orders were relaxed. With this high April figure, cumulative sales from March 2020 through April 2021 are now up 4 percent (a normal growth rate) over the previous 14 month period from January 2019 to February 2020.  
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/653

A Review of Child Care and Preschool Program Flexibilities in Certain Counties

May 13, 2021 - Once determined eligible for part ‑day CSPP, all families remain eligible for the school year. Families seeking employment are eligible for less than 30 hours of services a week. Families that are seeking permanent housing and/or are homeless are eligible for less than 30 hours of services a week.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4431

What Can We Learn From How the State Responded to the Last Major Drought?

May 13, 2021 - One of the most publicized short ‑term policies implemented during the 2012 t o 2016 drought was Governor Brown ’s call for a 25  p ercent statewide reduction in urban water use. In response to direction from an executive order, SWRCB passed emergency regulations implementing temporary water conservation requirements for urban potable water users, including certain limitations on outdoor irrigation.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4429

What Can We Learn From How the State Responded to the Last Major Drought? [Publication Details]

May 13, 2021 - Format: HTML Description: 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.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/4429

An Initial Look at Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Local Government Fiscal Condition

May 12, 2021 - The state has until December 31, 2024 t o spend its federal ARP allocation. As such, we recommend the Legislature not allocate all of the ARP funds available to the state as part of its 2021 ‑ 22 b udget.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4428

Building Permits Update: March 2021 [EconTax Blog]

May 11, 2021 - Total permits in 2021 year to date are 15 percent above the same months in 2020. February ’s total of 6,440 single family permits was the biggest monthly total since June 2017 and the biggest March total since 2007.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/652

Snapshot of the California Economy: March 2021 [EconTax Blog]

May 11, 2021 - Over the last year, the state has experienced abrupt and dramatic swings in economic activity. While a variety of data is available to track developments in the state economy, drawing clear conclusions from these disparate data points can be difficult.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/651

California New Business Creation: April 2021 [EconTax Blog]

May 7, 2021 - The standard pattern within a year is for a surge of new business formation at the beginning, then gradual declines as the year goes on. This pattern was upended in 2020: the pandemic caused a big drop in the spring, followed by a surge as the economy began to recover.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/649

Impact of COVID-19 on Health Care Access

May 7, 2021 - While the number of hospital inpatient bed days was roughly unchanged between 2020 and 2019 (on net), physician and nonphysician encounters were down by around 10  percent year over year. As Figure  5 shows, physician and nonphysician encounters have gradually, but not fully, returned to 2019 levels by the last quarter of 2020.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4426