COVID-19: Federal Health-Related Response

Mar 23, 2020 - Provides $25  Billion Nationwide for COVID-19 Testing-Related Activities. COVID Phase 3.5 provides an additional $25  billion to PHSSEF available nationwide for COVID-19 testing-related activities. (We discuss previous funding provided to PHSSEF earlier in this post under our discussion of the CARES Act.)
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4209

COVID-19: Unemployment Insurance for Workers Impacted by COVID-19

Mar 23, 2020 - (In particular, the recent H.R. 1319 extended the benefit duration by 25 weeks.) The federal government, instead o f California employers via payroll taxes, would pay the full cost of these extra weeks of benefits.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4208

The 2020-21 Budget: Expanding the Minimum Franchise Tax Exemption

Mar 23, 2020 - About 25  p ercent of new companies do not file a timely corporate tax return in their first year of business. We are concerned that the exemption itself may be confusing new companies that might infer that they are not required to file a tax return because they are exempt from the minimum franchise tax in their first year.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4207

Income Tax Withholding Tracker: 3/16 to 3/20 [EconTax Blog]

Mar 20, 2020 - The final graph compares withholding payments so far in the 2019-20 fiscal year to 2018-19. As of now, year-to-date payments in 2019-20 remain well ahead of 2018-19.  
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/443

The 2020-21 Budget: California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA)

Mar 20, 2020 - With these resources, CDTFA could perform 660 audits per year, but we estimate that IFTA will require the department to perform roughly 750 audits per year by 2021. We estimate that CDTFA would need three additional ATAs (at a cost of roughly $570,000 per year) to increase its audit capacity to 750 per year.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4205

Collective Bargaining: Assessing Proposed Employee Compensation Increases

Mar 20, 2020 - Our office has ten calendar days after receiving the MOU to issue a fiscal analysis to the Legislature. Pursuant to Section 19829.5 of the Government Code, the MOU shall not be subject to legislative determination until either our office has released its analysis or ten calendar days have elapsed.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4206

The 2020-21 Budget: Governor’s Fiscal Oversight Proposals [Publication Details]

Mar 19, 2020 - In this post, we provide background on fiscal oversight of school districts in California, describe the Governor’s proposals to augment oversight and reporting requirements related to school district budgets, assess those proposals, and provide associated recommendations.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/4204

The 2020-21 Budget: Governor’s Fiscal Oversight Proposals

Mar 19, 2020 - Background School Districts Must Have Their Budgets Approved by Their County Office of Education (COE). Before the start of each fiscal year, districts are required to submit their locally developed budget plans to their respective COEs for review.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4204

COVID-19 and California’s Evolving Fiscal Outlook

Mar 18, 2020 - The extended tax filing due date —while justified —will further complicate the task of developing revised revenue estimates both for the current year and the 2020 ‑21 fiscal year. Given that it will take time to appraise the ultimate effects on the state, the Legislature may need to take incremental steps —like adopting a workload budget in the nearer term —to
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4203

The 2020-21 Budget: Hastings College of the Law

Mar 13, 2020 - In recent years, the school has kept staffing levels steady regardless of changes to enrollment. Thus, in years when enrollment has grown, the school has received more tuition revenue to cover its operating costs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4201