The Bay-Delta Plan and Voluntary Agreements: Ensuring Effective Legislative Oversight

Mar 18, 2026 - While VAs can result from litigation, they differ from regular court orders or traditional top ‑down regulations in that the affected parties negotiate a settlement to try to achieve agreed ‑upon objectives.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5163

MOU Fiscal Analysis: Bargaining Units 10 (Professional Scientists) and 18 (Psychiatric Technician)

Sep 9, 2025 - Increases 2025-26 Special Salary Adjustments for Employees Below Top Step of Salary Ranges. The 2024 MOU included pay increases in 2025-26 of (1)  between 4  percent and 5  percent for employees at the top step of their classification ’s salary range and (2)  3  percent for employees not at the top step of their classification ’s salary range.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5073

MOU Fiscal Analysis: Bargaining Unit 9 (Professional Engineers)

Jun 27, 2025 - Effective July 1, 2027, the agreement would provide SSAs that adjust the top and bottom steps of the salary ranges for all Unit 9 classifications. Specifically, the top steps would increase 4.5  percent and the bottom steps would increase 2  percent.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5061

Personal income tax rates for high-income taxpayers. [Ballot]

Oct 20, 2025 - The top 2  percent of California taxpayers pay these higher rates. These taxpayers pay about half of all state income taxes. How Does the State Spend This Money? The state collects taxes from people and businesses and uses them to pay for services to the public.
https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2025-016

The 2026-27 Budget: California Student Aid Commission

Feb 17, 2026 - This income level equates to roughly the top 90th percentile of households in California (meaning only about one in ten households makes above that level). Lastly, under the revamped program, students at private universities remain ineligible for MCS awards.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5127

MOU Fiscal Analysis: Bargaining Unit 12 (Craft and Maintenance)

Jun 27, 2025 - The proposed agreement would replace the scheduled top step increase with a 3  percent GSI. While a top step increase applies only to employees at the top step of their salary range, a GSI applies to all members of the bargaining unit.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5060

The 2026-27 Budget: Cap-and-Invest Expenditure Plan

Feb 10, 2026 - By including funding for state operations in Tier 1, they are taken “off the top ” before allocations are computed for nearly all other activities. The main implication of this approach is that any activities that are added to this category essentially result in less funding available to support programs in other tiers and a greater likelihood that Tier 3 programs may not receive their full statutory allotments.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5114

The 2026-27 Budget: California Community Colleges

Mar 5, 2026 - The Legislature has historically made this a top CCC  budget priority because it helps districts address increases in their core operating costs and, in turn, maintain the quality of their instructional programs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5150

The 2025-26 Budget: Concession Bargaining

May 19, 2025 - The salary range has a minimum step and a maximum step (also referred to as a top step) with intermediary steps in-between. Employees who are not at the top step of their job classification’s salary range may be eligible for a merit salary adjustment (typically 5 percent) in each year that they meet certain expectations, until they are at the top step of the range.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5047

The 2026-27 Budget: Higher Education Overview

Feb 5, 2026 - Consistent with historical legislative practice, as well as current practice for CCC, we recommend the Legislature fund enrollment growth at CSU and UC apart from and on top of any base increase, as doing so provides greater transparency and accountability.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5112