California’s Strong Revenue Trends Mask Looming Budget Risk

Jan 23, 2026 - After the dot-com bust and the Great Recession, it took four and five years, respectively, for revenues to recover. Incorporating revenue risk into the budget now, therefore, reflects prudence, not pessimism.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5104

Building Reserves to Prepare for a Recession

Mar 7, 2018 - By most measures, the recession of the early 1990s was more severe than the dot ‑com bust in the early 2000s. For example, unemployment in California reached 9. 7  p ercent in mid ‑ to late ‑1992, but peaked at 6. 9  p ercent after the dot ‑com bust.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3769

Managing California’s Cash

Sep 3, 2019 - After a period of relative calm in the mid ‑ and late ‑1990s, California faced another series of years with acute budget problems following the dot ‑com bust and ensuing recession. Although the dot ‑com bust was relatively mild in economic terms, it hit the California budget —which is particularly reliant on the Bay Area ’s technology sector —especially hard.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4092

The 2026-27 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

Nov 19, 2025 - For California, the dot ‑com era —when stocks rose and then fell precipitously in response to widespread adoption of the internet —offers the most salient example. The internet has proven to be a transformative technology and, yet, the stock market ’s initial reaction was clearly overly exuberant.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5091

The 2020-21 Budget: Overview of the California Spending Plan (Final Version)

Oct 5, 2020 - As a condition of receiving the funding, counties must show that they are in com pliance with state and federal public health requirements. Budget Provides $600   Million for Project Homekey and Related Services.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4263

The 2019-20 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

Nov 14, 2018 - However, DOF expects the population of children ages 5 t o 17 t o increase slightly over the period and young adults (ages 18 t o 2 4) t o remain nearly constant. Fiscal Effects We expect each of these three demographic trends to have distinct effects on the budget.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3896

The State Appropriations Limit

Apr 21, 2021 - The state ’s appropriations subject to the limit fell substantially during the dot ‑com bust in the early 2000s and again during the Great Recession due to the significant decline in state revenues during those downturns.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4416

The 2020-21 Budget: Proposition 2 Debt Payment Proposals

Mar 10, 2020 - Use Proposition   2 t o Keep the Retiree Health Prefunding Plan on Track. The state could use Proposition   2 t o address future, new unfunded liabilities should they emerge for retiree health. For example, suppose in a particular year investment returns on prefunded assets fail to meet expectations.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4196

The 2018-19 Budget: California Spending Plan (Final Version)

Oct 2, 2018 - The budget package provides an increase of $ 15  m illion in 2018 ‑ 19 t o support the implementation of the FES project. The budget package also includes trailer legislation to increase by $ 1 p er ‑transaction fee (from $ 3 t o $ 4) c harged to private entities (such as car dealerships) that utilize the system to collect vehicle registration fees on the department ’s behalf, in order to help offset the project ’s implementation costs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3870/10

The 2018-19 Budget: California Spending Plan (Final Version)

Oct 2, 2018 - Most notably, the budget allocates $1. 3  b illion in Proposition   56 t axes on tobacco products to three major purposes: ( 1)  t o increase payments to Medi ‑Cal providers ($ 821  m illion), ( 2)  t o establish a student loan repayment program for Medi ‑Cal physicians and dentists, and ( 3)  t o offset General Fund spending in Medi ‑Cal.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3870/1