The 2025-26 Budget: Food Assistance Programs

Feb 19, 2025 - Due to this policy change, and a decades-long effort to increase CalFresh en rollment, CalFresh caseload was at a then historic high prior to the COVID-19 public health crisis (about 2.2  million households in February 2020).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4971

Insurer coverage of medical procedures and medication. [Ballot]

May 15, 2025 - Probably Increased Costs for Health Care Sector Overall, but Size Uncertain. Given the above uncertainty, pinpointing the initiative ’s fiscal effects on the state ’s health care sector is difficult.
https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2025-002

The 2026-27 Budget: Food Assistance Programs

Feb 18, 2026 - As part of its oversight of the SNAP program, the federal government calculates the payment error rate, which measures the extent to which benefit payments are higher or lower than they should be based on individual household circumstances.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5126

^[PDF] At its peak, some individuals visiting certain

At its peak, some individuals visiting certain offices could experience wait times of a few hours. For example, in August 2018, average wait times were nearly two hours in the largest DMV field offices.
https://lao.ca.gov/handouts/transportation/2021/The-2021-22-Budget-Department-of-Motor-020821.pdf

Nutrition Programs in COVID-19 Recovery Actions

Mar 25, 2020 - Unlike these programs, SNAP is an entitlement program for which funding automatically increases as more people become eligible (for example, duri ng an economic downturn). Consequently, the federal relief acts do not explicitly increase funding for SNAP, although we anticipate California will receive increased SNAP funding as the economy contracts and caseloads increase.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4211

The 2026-27 Budget: County Administration and H.R. 1 Implementation

Mar 5, 2026 - Research on the impacts of the SNAP work requirement indicate that it results in increased disenrollment, in part driven by otherwise eligible enrollees not complying with paperwork or tracking requirements (commonly referred to as “administrative burden ”).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5149

The 2024-25 California Spending Plan: Human Services

Oct 2, 2024 - The federal Consolidated Appropriation Act of 2023 mandated federal reimbursement of SNAP (or CalFresh in California) food benefit theft. States may use federal funds to replace SNAP benefits stolen through card skimming, cloning, or scamming from October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2024.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4933/3

^[PDF] Trends in Higher Education: Student Outcomes

Graduation data at the for-profit sector is less reliable, but the data indicate that graduation rates at this sector are much lower than graduation rates at the other sectors. Graduation Rates at California's Universities Continue to Exceed Their National Peers Six-Year Graduation Rates by Cohort for First-Time, Full-Time Freshmen 30
https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2024/4895/EdTrends-Student-Outcomes-041824.pdf

Proposition 44 [Ballot]

Nov 3, 2026 - Clinics are places where people can access certain health care services, such as doctor ’s visits. Many clinics are considered “safety net, ” as they mainly serve low-income and uninsured people. The care they provide is often low cost or free to patients.
https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Proposition?number=44&year=2026

California’s Child Welfare System: Addressing Disproportionalities and Disparities

Apr 24, 2024 - This report examines disproportionalities and disparities across California’s child welfare system in terms of income and race/ethnicity. The report provides background on the child welfare system, describes child welfare system disproportionalities and disparities, and lays out potential drivers of these inequities.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4897