Whether or Not to Tap Reserves to Solve Estimated Budget Problem Emerges as Key Fiscal Decision Facing California’s Legislature

Apr 19, 2023 - Other downturns, such as the 2001 so-called dot-com recession, had severe fiscal implications while inflicting somewhat milder economic damage. The 2008 Great Recession had brutal effects on both the state ’s economy and budget.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4762

New Inflation Poses Not So New Budget Risk

Dec 15, 2022 - It is not surprising, therefore, that over the years, the budgets of many U.S. states, including California, have increased faster than the Consumer Price Index given that large shares of their budgets go toward funding education, health care, and human services.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4653

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

The 2026-27 Budget: How to Use One-Time Revenue Improvements

Feb 20, 2026 - Although the state faces significant cost pressures due to reductions in federal funding, using one-time resources to backfill those ongoing reductions would put the state on even worse fiscal footing going forward.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5133

The Quiet Transformation in California’s Cash Management

Aug 29, 2019 - Traditionally, this involved tapping financial markets for at least some of the funds. Now and for the past several years, however, California has had the fiscal wherewithal to self-finance its interim cash deficits.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4091

The 2024-25 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions

Oct 2, 2024 - Governor ’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) Transfers Existing Programs Into GO-Biz. Due to the restructuring of the Governor ’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (formerly the Governor ’s Office of Planning and Research), the budget transfers both the Zero-Emission Vehicle Program and the California Jobs First Program to GO-Biz, the latter of which is a partnership with the Labor and Workforce Development Agency.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4934

The 2024-25 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions

Oct 2, 2024 - Governor ’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) Transfers Existing Programs Into GO-Biz. Due to the restructuring of the Governor ’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (formerly the Governor ’s Office of Planning and Research), the budget transfers both the Zero-Emission Vehicle Program and the California Jobs First Program to GO-Biz, the latter of which is a partnership with the Labor and Workforce Development Agency.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4934/governors-office-of-emergency-services

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 2023-24 Budget: Multiyear Assessment

Feb 15, 2023 - Three of those —the recession in the early 1990s, the dot ‑com bust in the early 2000s, and the Great Recession —resulted in large revenue shortfalls and ensuing multiyear deficits, even for some years after each recession ended.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4687

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