Reducing the Destructiveness of Wildfires: Promoting Defensible Space in California

Sep 30, 2021 - Specifically, 21 p ercent of reporting agencies had compliance rates below 25 p ercent, while 38 p ercent had compliance rates above 75 p ercent. In the box below, we discuss some issues related to why measuring compliance rates is a valuable, though imperfect, measure of wildfire risk reduction, as well as why there is no clear optimal compliance rate that the state should target.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4457

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

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

Adoption of April 2021 Wildfire and Forest Resilience Early Action Package

Apr 16, 2021 - In addition to early action funding, the Governor ’s January budget proposed funding in 2021 ‑22 for wildfire and forest resilience activities (for a total of $1  billion over the two years). In our recent publication The 2021‑22 Budget: Wildfire Resilience Package , we identified overarching issues for the Legislature to consider as it evaluates the Governor’s current- and budget-year proposals.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4414

The 2021-22 Budget: Department of Toxic Substances Control

Mar 19, 2021 - For instance, the initial rate for businesses with more than 1, 000 e mployees would be $56, 000 p er year, but the maximum level would be set at $112, 000 p er year. The cap would be adjusted annually for inflation according to the Consumer Price Index beginning in 2024 ‑25.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4406

The 2021-22 Budget: Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) [Publication Details]

Feb 10, 2021 - This publication analyzes the Governor’s $1.6 billion proposed budget for the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle), which reflects a $2.3 billion (60 percent) decrease compared to estimated current-year expenditures. The decrease is almost entirely due to one-time General Fund expenditures in 2020-21 related to wildfire debris removal.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/4359

The 2021-22 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 10, 2021 - When the state created the requirement for supplemental payments, it had anticipated a steep drop in the minimum guarantee that would affect school and community college funding for several years. The supplemental payments were intended to accelerate the recovery from this drop, with payments growing from $2.3  billion in 2021 ‑22 to more than $6  billion by 2024 ‑25.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4309

A Framework for Evaluating State-Level Green Stimulus Proposals

Jan 5, 2021 - Similarly, in the California Forest Carbon Plan , the state established a goal of conducting forest restoration and fuels treatment activities on 35,000 acres of forest lands per year by 2020, increasing to 60,000 acres per year by 2030.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4308

Expanding Access to Safe and Affordable Drinking Water in California—A Status Update [Publication Details]

Nov 10, 2020 - One year later, SWRCB has made good progress in establishing spending priorities, beginning to allocate funds and execute projects, and collecting essential data to identify the communities that should be targeted for improvements.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/4294