The 2026-27 Budget: CDTFA’s Cannabis and Tobacco Programs

Feb 23, 2026 - When we reviewed this issue in The 2015‑16 Budget: Cigarette Tax and Licensing Programs , we did not find this argument compelling. We recommended that the Licensing Program be funded exclusively through license fees, which is how it is funded today.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5132

The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions

Oct 16, 2025 - The 2025-26 budget gives JLBC until January 1, 2026 to review and express nonconcurrence of this subset of positions identified for elimination. In addition, the budget gives the JLBC the authority to review and nonconcur with the proposed elimination of positions in nine specified departments.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5081

How High? Adjusting California’s Cannabis Taxes

Dec 17, 2019 - Miller, Keaton and Boyoung Seo (2019). “Tax Revenues When Substances Substitute: Marijuana, Alcohol, and Tobacco. ” Mimeo, University of Oregon. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2017).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4125

The 2025-26 Budget: Update on Implementation of New Firearm and Ammunition Tax

Feb 19, 2025 - Our office will review the additional data released in the coming months and provide updated estimates around late February and late May. …But Likely Below Original Projections. Given the current revenue estimates, we anticipate that annual revenues are likely to be lower than the $159  million estimated when Chapter  231 went through the policy process.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4970

Evaluation of a Tax Exemption for Zero-Emission Buses

Apr 15, 2024 - That law also required our office to review the effectiveness of the ZEB exemption. Under AB  784, the exemption would have ended on January 1, 2024. Chapter  353 of 2022 (AB  2622, Mullin) pushed back the expiration date to January 1, 2026 and required our office to publish our analysis by May 1, 2024.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4890

Fixing Unemployment Insurance

Dec 2, 2024 - We review these issues in this section. Benefits Do Not Keep Up With Inflation or Hit Wage Replacement Target California ’s Benefits Are Not Indexed to Inflation. UI benefits increase with income, but the maximum amount a worker can receive is $450 per week —a level set in legislation passed in 2001.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4943

Improving California’s Unemployment Insurance Program

Aug 8, 2022 - When information provided by the worker does not match EDD ’s records, EDD may divert the claim to manual review. Like identity reviews above, claims that need work history review are almost always delayed by 21 days, and often longer.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615

California’s Low-Wage Workers and Minimum Wage

Mar 11, 2024 - ” Monthly Labor Review , U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2022. Dube, Arindrajit (2019). “Impacts of minimum wages: review of the international evidence. ” Report for Her Majesty ’s Treasury, United Kingdom.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4878/3

The 2023-24 Budget: California's Film Tax Credit

Feb 28, 2023 - Economic Effects of the Credit In this section we review existing research on the economic effects of film tax credits. Dozens of studies over the last two decades have examined the economic effects of film tax credits in California and other states.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4713

California’s Low-Wage Workers and Minimum Wage

Mar 11, 2024 - ” The Review of Economics and Statistics 95(2). Bollinger, Christopher, Barry Hirsch, Charles Hokayem, and James Ziliak (2019). “Trouble in the Tails? What We Know About Earnings Nonresponse 30 Years After Lillard, Smith, and Welch. ” Journal of Political Economy 127(51).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4878/4