California’s Strong Revenue Trends Mask Looming Budget Risk

Jan 23, 2026 - Whereas California’s labor market has stagnated over the last two years, the S&P 500 stock index has appreciated roughly 50 percent over the same period. And most of this increase has come from skyrocketing share prices among a handful of firms associated with innovations in Artificial Intelligence (AI).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5104

2001 Budget Analysis: School Accountability

For example, if a school's 1999 API score was 500, the school's growth target would be (800 - 500) * 5 percent = 15 points. Sc hools with API scores at the 800 point level or above must increase their scores by 1 point to meet their growth target.
https://lao.ca.gov/analysis_2001/education/ed_10_sch_acct_anl01.htm

^[PDF] LAO 2001 Budget Analysis: Education Chapter

By com- parison, 34 percent of the reviewed instruction was graded as low quality for German classrooms, and 11 percent for Japanese classrooms. The study also found that new teachers in the U.S received less on-the-job training, less mentoring, and less preparation time than teachers in Germany or Japan.
https://lao.ca.gov/analysis_2001/education/ed_anl01.pdf

The 2026-27 Budget: Contract to Achieve Operational Efficiencies [Publication Details]

Mar 10, 2026 - The budget assumed that the process changes resulting from the contract would reduce state costs by $500 million in 2025-26, growing to $2 billion in annual savings by 2028-29. This post provides background on the state’s recent efforts to identify efficiencies to achieve budget savings and our office’s comments and recommendations concerning the progress of the administration’s efforts to reduce state costs through this contract.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5156

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

^[PDF] LAO 1999 Budget Analysis: Education Chapter

Test scores and other data from spring 1999 would be used as the base year for judg- ing subsequent changes in the API. The State Board of Education would determine the “proficient” level of API scores.
https://lao.ca.gov/analysis_1999/education/education_anl99.pdf

Local taxes. [Ballot]

Aug 14, 2025 - The tax is limited to 55 cents per $500 in property sale (or 0.11  percent). A city can opt to impose a documentary transfer tax of half that rate (that is, 27.5  cents per $500) when the property sale is within its boundaries.
https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2025-006

Local taxes. [Ballot]

Jul 1, 2025 - The tax is limited to 55 cents per $500 in property sale (or 0.11 percent). A city can opt to impose a documentary transfer tax of half that rate (that is, 27.5 cents per $500) when the property sale is within its boundaries.
https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2025-005

Local taxes. [Ballot]

Jul 1, 2025 - The tax is limited to 55 cents per $500 in property sale (or 0.11 percent). A city can opt to impose a documentary transfer tax of half that rate (that is, 27.5 cents per $500) when the property sale is within its boundaries.
https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2025-004