The 2022-23 Budget: Assessing Proposals to Address Unemployment Insurance Fraud

Feb 15, 2022 - (After the publication of this report, the IRS reinstated its use of ID.me, but with added safeguards.) New Anti ‑Fraud Proposals No Longer Needed and Run Counter to Strike Team Recommendations. Moving forward at this time with additional layers of fraud protection is not necessary because (1)  recent fraud was concentrated in temporary federal benefit programs
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4542

Labor Agreements to Achieve Budgetary Savings

Jul 11, 2025 - Control Section 3.90 of the 2025-26 budget (as added by Chapter 5 of 2025 [AB 102, Gabriel]) established an expectation of the Legislature that all 21 of the state’s bargaining units would meet and confer in good faith with the administration before July 1, 2025 to achieve savings assumed in the budget.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5063

MOU Fiscal Analysis: Bargaining Unit 16 (Physicians, Dentists, and Podiatrists)

Jul 14, 2025 - The reduced amount of money invested in the trust fund will result in higher unfunded liabilities in the long-run. In most of the agreements, the state ’s contributions towards the benefit would be fully restored in 2027-28.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5064

COVID-19: Unemployment Insurance for Workers Impacted by COVID-19

Mar 23, 2020 - In December, 2020, H.R. 133 re-instituted the weekly $300 added benefit for January 1, 2021 to March  14, 2021. On March  11, 2021, H.R. 1319 extended the weekly $300 added benefit through September 6, 2021.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4208

MOU Fiscal Analysis: Bargaining Units 10 (Professional Scientists) and 18 (Psychiatric Technician)

Sep 9, 2025 - Suspending employer and employee contributions creates a short-term benefit to both the employer and employee; however, it will result in less money being invested in the trust fund and higher unfunded liabilities for the state in the long run.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5073

Revisiting the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund Insolvency

Sep 30, 2016 - Over the long run, this has made it difficult for contributions to support benefit costs, particularly during periods of higher unemployment when demand for benefits is greater. As shown in Figure  1, due to significantly elevated levels of unemployment during the most recent recession, the total amount of UI benefits paid to workers substantially increased.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3503

The 2020-21 Spending Plan: Pensions

Oct 12, 2020 - Whereas the supplemental CalSTRS and CalPERS payments would have reduced pension costs over the long run (akin to paying principal on a mortgage), repurposing the supplemental payments as rate relief payments does not reduce long-run costs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4279

The 2022-23 Budget: Analysis of the Care Economy Workforce Development Package

Mar 10, 2022 - The department also runs the state ’s employment insurance benefit programs, including Unemployment Insurance, Paid Family Leave, and Disability Insurance, and collects state payroll taxes that workers and employers pay.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4572

Climate Change Impacts Across California - Crosscutting Issues

Apr 5, 2022 - For example, lower and warmer water levels in the Sacramento River in the summers of 2014 and 2015 resulted in the death  of 95  p ercent of the river ’s juvenile winter ‑run Chinook salmon in those years —practically  eliminating two out of three existing cohorts of this endangered species.  
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4575

The 2022-23 Budget: State Payments on the Federal Unemployment Insurance Loan

Feb 15, 2022 - Many of the suspected claimants had already run out of benefits and thus had little reason to log in to confirm the ir identity. Other claimants may have given up in frustration after trying unsuccessfully to send requested documentation to EDD.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4543