U.S. Retail Sales Update: August 2022 [EconTax Blog]

Sep 15, 2022 - Inflation-Adjusted Retail Sales Grew Modestly Over Past Year. Across all goods and services purchased by consumers, U.S. prices grew 0.1 percent from July to August. From August 2021 to August 2022, prices grew 8.3 percent, somewhat less than the 9.1 percent growth in nominal sales over that twelve-month period.  
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/754

Changes in University of California General Fund Spending [EdBudget]

Sep 13, 2022 - Provisional budget bill language states intent to provide an additional $83 million each in 2023-24 and 2024-25 for these projects (with the same split between the two campuses). c Provisional budget bill language states intent to provide an additional $83 million each in 2023-24 and 2024-25 for this project. d Of this amount,
https://lao.ca.gov/Education/EdBudget/Details/675

Changes in California State Library General Fund Spending [EdBudget]

Sep 2, 2022 - Changes in California State Library General Fund Spending [EdBudget] a Budget package also provides $100 million for this initiative in 2023-24. b Reflects second year of initiative, providing $9.5 million over a four-year period.
https://lao.ca.gov/Education/EdBudget/Details/674

Income Tax Witholding Tracker: August 2022 [EconTax Blog]

Sep 1, 2022 - To make an apples-to-apples comparison for August, we compare the same five-week period covering August across the two years. Using this method, each year contains the same weeks of the year and the same number of "collection days ".)
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/752

California Community Colleges Proposition 98 Spending by Program [EdBudget]

Sep 1, 2022 - California Community Colleges Proposition 98 Spending by Program [EdBudget]     d Reflects funding for programs with less than $2 million each in ongoing funding (Academic Senate, district financial crisis oversight, and Middle College High School).
https://lao.ca.gov/Education/EdBudget/Details/631

California's Cooling Housing Market [EconTax Blog]

Aug 30, 2022 - As a result of monetary policy interventions by the Federal Reserve (Fed), 30 year mortgage rates averaged 3 percent across 2020 and 2021, 2 5 percent lower than the average of the prior five years (4 percent).
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/749

Unit 8 (Firefighters) MOU Analysis

Aug 26, 2022 - That policy would be incorporated into the Governor ’s 2024-25 budget proposal in January 2024. Accordingly, the specifics of how the 66-hour duty week would be structured or implemented are not known.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4621

Unit 2 (Attorneys) MOU Analysis

Aug 25, 2022 - Effective July 1, 2023, the top step of three administrative law judge classifications would increase by 4.5  percent. 4.5  Percent Top Step Increase for Most Unit 2 Classifications in 2024-25. Effective July 1, 2024, the top step of all Unit 2 classifications, except classifications equivalent to the Attorney III classification, would increase
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4619

Unit 9 (Professional Engineers) MOU Analysis

Aug 25, 2022 - As Figure  1 shows, the administration estimates that, by 2024-25, the agreement would increase state annual costs by $220.3  million ($6.5  million General Fund). Figure 1 Administration ’s Fiscal Estimates of Proposed Unit 9 Agreement (In Millions) Professional society and organization dues a — Transportation Surveyor recruitment and retention pay differential
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4620

Overview of California's Ports

Aug 23, 2022 - The state plans to lend these properties to support port operations for one year, with an option to renew for another year. At the time of this writing, DGS had leased these properties to a wareho using company that will work with importers to store containers on these sites.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4618