Section 1115 Waiver Renewal: Key Medi-Cal Financing Issues Remain Outstanding

Oct 13, 2015 - Instead, counties and other local governments would provide the nonfederal share through certain expenditures and funding transfers. For the last set of projects, the state has asked CMS to waive the nonfederal matching requirement altogether.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3301

A proposed statutory initiative related to the cultivation, use, possession, and sale of marijuana. [Ballot]

Oct 13, 2015 - The measure would result in reduced costs to the state and local governments by reducing the number of marijuana offenders incarcerated in state prison and county jail, as well as the number placed under community supervision (such as county probation).
https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2015-050

Voluntary certification of the accuracy of information cited in political advertisements for federal office (Amendment #1). [Ballot]

Oct 13, 2015 - This certification would be voluntary and submitted to county election officials under penalty of perjury with a maximum sentence of four years in prison. Any investigation or prosecution of perjury would be delayed until after the general election has concluded.
https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2015-051

Upcoming Changes in Medi-Cal Create Fiscal and Policy Uncertainty

Oct 9, 2015 - For more information on the MCO tax, see the “MCO Tax Modification ” write-up in our February report, The 2015‑16 Budget: Analysis of the Health Budget , and our prior post, "The MCO Tax: A Flat Versus Tiered Structure."
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3300

Related to the cultivation, use, possession, and sale of marijuana (Amendment #1). [Ballot]

Oct 9, 2015 - The measure would result in reduced costs to the state and local governments by reducing the number of marijuana offenders incarcerated in state prisons and county jails, as well as the number placed under community supervision (such as county probation).
https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2015-049

Upcoming Changes in Medi-Cal Create Fiscal and Policy Uncertainty [Publication Details]

Oct 9, 2015 - In this post, we briefly highlight four upcoming major changes: (1) the renewal of the state’s Section 1115 waiver, (2) proposed modifications to the federal government’s regulations for Medicaid managed care plans, (3) the phase-in of state’s share of cost for the Affordable Care Act’s optional expansion population, and (4) the need to restructure the managed care organization tax to meet federal requirements.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/3300

A proposed statutory initiative related to felony sentencing (Amendment #1). [Ballot]

Oct 2, 2015 - County Correctional Costs. This measure would result in increased correctional costs to counties. This is because many offenders who have current or prior convictions for felonies that would no longer be con sidered serious crimes under the measure would serve their sentences in county jails or on county probation, rather than in state prison.
https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2015-048

Amend the California Constitution to generally require physicians to notify a minor’s parent or guardian before performing an abortion on that minor, with certain exceptions. [Ballot]

Oct 1, 2015 - Under these circumstances, there could also be a minor increase in child welfare and foster care costs for the state and counties. Summary of Fiscal Effects This measure would have the following fiscal effects: State administrative costs of at least $1  million, and potentially several million dollars, annually.
https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2015-047

2014 GDP Growth: San Jose MSA Leads Western Region [EconTax Blog]

Sep 23, 2015 - The BEA data indicates that the economies of the Madera (Madera County), Merced (Merced County), and Visalia-Porterville (Tulare County) MSAs shrunk in real terms last year. For each of these regions, the BEA data shows that real declines in natural resources and mining were the key factors behind the overall real GDP decline.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/134

Lower-Income Households Moving to Inland California from Coast [EconTax Blog]

Sep 16, 2015 - A look at American Communtiy Survey data shows notable movement of lower-income households from California's expensive coastal metro areas to the state's inland metro regions.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/133