The 2026-27 Budget: Re-Envisioning State Education Governance

Mar 18, 2026 - Another significant responsibility is hearing appeals when a prospective charter school is denied authorization by a school district or county board of education. The SBE also oversees some administrative functions.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5165

How Have Past Stock Market Downturns Affected Income Tax Revenue? [EconTax Blog]

Mar 9, 2026 - By most measures, the global financial crisis was more severe than the dot-com crash. The state 's unemployment rate, for example, peaked at 7 percent following the dot-com crash but reached nearly double that during the financial crisis and remained elevated for much longer.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/852

How Have Past Stock Market Downturns Affected Income Tax Revenue? [EconTax Blog]

Mar 9, 2026 - By most measures, the global financial crisis was more severe than the dot-com crash. The state 's unemployment rate, for example, peaked at 7 percent following the dot-com crash but reached nearly double that during the financial crisis and remained elevated for much longer.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/article/Detail/852

Addressing Chronic Vacancies in Prison Mental Health Care

Feb 23, 2026 - To the extent the mental health Receiver denies a plan to deactivate excess bed capacity, we recommend the Legislature request from the Receiver what criteria, threshold, or buffer the state would have to achieve in order to deactivate some, if not all, of the excess capacity and direct CDCR to make changes  accordingly.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5134

The 2026-27 Budget: Department of Justice

Feb 11, 2026 - The decision included the following footnote: “Because any permitting scheme can be put towards abusive ends, we do not rule out constitutional challenges to shall-issue regimes where, for example, lengthy wait times in processing license applications or exorbitant fees deny ordinary citizens their right to public carry. ” This footnote suggests that there may be a point where firearm regulatory fees become unconstitutionally high.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5118

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

Oversight of certain public benefit artificial intelligence (AI) companies. [Ballot]

Jan 20, 2026 - The measure would have the following major fiscal effects: Increased state costs that would likely be in the tens of millions of dollars annually to establish and operate a new regulatory commission overseeing certain public benefit AI com panies.
https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2025-033

Time limits, environmental reviews, and judicial reviews for certain types of infrastructure projects. [Ballot]

Dec 10, 2025 - The measure would require the lead agency to approve or deny the project at the meeting or hearing. This change could have the ultimate effect of shortening the overall time for environmental reviews compared to current law.
https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2025-023

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

Insurance regulation. [Ballot]

Nov 10, 2025 - Restricts the Ability of Licensed Insurers to Deny Coverage to Homeowners. Insurers could not deny insurance on any home that meets certain home-hardening standards. The Insurance Commissioner would decide what home-hardening standards would need to be me t.
https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2025-020