The 2024-25 Budget: Overview of the Federal Fiscal Responsibility Act's Impacts on CalWORKs

Mar 5, 2024 - At the beginning of the pilot, participating states will ag ree with the federal government on performance benchmarks for these measures. Participating states could be removed from the pilot for failing to meet these performance benchmarks.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4877

Rethinking the 1991 Realignment

Oct 15, 2018 - Under the ACA, states had the option —which was exercised by California —to expand eligibility for their Medicaid programs to all qualified residents under ag e 65 with household incomes at or below 138 percent of the FPL beginning January 2014.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3886

The 2021-22 Spending Plan: Human Services

Nov 22, 2021 - Bonus Pay for Bilingual Service Provider Staff. The spending plan provides $2.2  million General Fund in 2021 ‑22, $4.3  million General Fund in 2022 ‑23, and $6.5  million General Fund in 2023 ‑24 and ongoing to support wage bonuses for DSPs who are bilingual —including in American Sign Language —and can support the estimated 90,000 consumers who speak a primary language other than English.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4476/1

The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Human Services

Nov 21, 2025 - (As of this writing, whether these savings will be achieved is unclear as the administration ’s recently signed contract with a consultant does not appear to include DSS.) Proposed Solutions Not Adopted in Spending Plan.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5086/4

The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions

Oct 16, 2025 - The 2025-26 budget package includes up to $20  million for DOF to enter into one or more new contracts to implement operational improvements that allow the state to reduce state operations expenditures.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5081

The 2025-26 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 13, 2025 - The reason for the reduction is the recent voter approval of Proposition  35 (2024), which requires the state to spend less MCO tax money on offsetting General Fund spending and more money on provider rate increases.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4951

The 2026-27 Budget: CalWORKs

Feb 18, 2026 - As shown in Figure  5, the CalWORKs caseload has steadily grown from early in 2021-22, coinciding with the expiration of enhanced federal Unemployment Insurance benefits following the COVID-19 pandemic.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5122

The 2026-27 Budget: Food Assistance Programs

Feb 18, 2026 - H.R. 1 Makes Significant Changes Impacting CalFresh and CFAP H.R. 1 was passed by Congress and signed by the President in July 2025. H.R. 1 introduces multiple significant changes to CalFresh and CFAP that are expected to result in reduced enrollment, lower benefits, and higher state costs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5126

The 2026-27 Budget: In-Home Supportive Services

Mar 18, 2026 - However, as seen in Figure  5 , when we consider IHSS hourly wages separately, we see that the average growth rate of hourly wages has been 5.6  percent annually since  2014. This growth in IHSS hourly wages is in part due to increases to the state minimum wage —from $8  per hour on January 1, 2014 to $16.90 per hour on January  1,  2026.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5166

The 2025-26 Budget: CalWORKs

Feb 19, 2025 - This decline continued until September 2021, the month during which a federal bonus for Unemployment Insurance benefits expired. Caseload generally increased month over month (with few exceptions) from September 2021 to September 2024 (the most recent month for which caseload data are available).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4969