2017 May Revision: LAO Economic Outlook [EconTax Blog]

May 11, 2017 - Taxes. Various proposals could reduce business taxes and change individual income taxes in a number of ways. The President, for example, has proposed lowering marginal income tax rates and, at the same time, eliminating the deduction for state and local tax payments —a deduction that disproportionately benefits Californians, as well as residents of a few other states.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/239

The 2017-18 Budget: Secretary of State Spring Finance Letter

Apr 25, 2017 - Under SB  450, counties may replace the current precinct model of voting with a new “vote center ” model. However, there is no requirement that counties implement the vote center model. The law allows 14 counties —accounting for about one-fifth of California ’s registered voters —to implement the new voting model in 2018 and the remaining counties to implement the model in 2020.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3656

Legislative districts. [Ballot]

Apr 13, 2017 - County Election Responsibilities. California counties are responsible for conducting elections, including: dividing each county into precincts, establishing and providing places for voting, maintaining voter regist ration records, printing ballots and sample ballots, and transmitting election results to the Secretary of State.
https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2017-002

The 2017‑18 Budget: Implementation of Proposition 57

Apr 6, 2017 - Counties are generally responsible for the youths placed by juvenile courts. These youths are typically allowed to remain with their families under the supervision of county probation, with some placed elsewhere (such as in county-run camps).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3648

The 2017-18 Budget: Considering the State's Role in Elections [Publication Details]

Mar 30, 2017 - We recommend the Legislature develop a new financial relationship between the state and counties to (1) direct statewide elections policy and (2) provide a reasonable and reliable level of financial support that reflects the benefits to the state of county elections administration.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/3634

The 2017-18 Budget: Update on K-12 Student Attendance

Mar 30, 2017 - For a few programs —generally those operated by county offices of education —the state waits to finalize funding until it receives Annual data. The role of the P-1 report is to provide an interim estimate of attendance until better data become available.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3638

The 2017-18 Budget: Considering the State's Role in Elections

Mar 30, 2017 - In order to receive bond monies, a county had to expend $1 of county funds to receive $3 of bond monies —a three ‑to ‑one ratio of state ‑to ‑county money. The proportion of the bond monies available to each county depended on a formula that took into account each county ’s number of eligible, registered, and participating voters and number of polling places.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3634

The 2017-18 Budget: Evaluating the State-County Assessors' Partnership Agreement Program

Mar 27, 2017 - The current funding structure for county property tax administration, including county assessors, raises important questions about intercounty disparities. Because the school share of property taxes varies across counties, requiring counties to cover the schools ’ share of property tax administration costs places a greater burden on some counties than others.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3632

The 2017-18 Budget: Evaluating the State-County Assessors' Partnership Agreement Program [Publication Details]

Mar 27, 2017 - Under SCAPAP, the state allocated grants to eight county assessors’ offices to improve local administration of the property tax. In this report, we look at data from the first two years of SCAPAP and attempt to gauge the program’s effect on property tax revenues.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/3632

A History of California’s Budget Reserves

Mar 24, 2017 - State revenues, particularly those from the personal income tax (PIT), are volatile . In particular, the PIT tax base includes capital gains (gains on the sale of stocks, bonds, certain homes, and other assets), which vary considerably from year to year.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3630