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

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

Evolution of the Balance of the Budget Stabilization Account

Nov 14, 2018 - Sometime After 2022 ‑23 assuming neither the optional deposit nor the deposit made under the rules of Proposition  58 count. The Legislature ’s policy appears to be that both the optional deposit and Proposition  58 deposit should count toward the 10  percent threshold.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3900

The 2024-25 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 13, 2024 - We Estimate the Administration Solved a Larger Budget Problem —$58   Billion. While the Governor cited a budget problem of $38  billion, we estimate the administration solved a budget problem of $58  billion.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4825

The 2024-25 Budget: Deficit Update

Feb 20, 2024 - Specifically, our forecast is about $24 billion below the Governor’s budget across 2022‑23 to 2024‑25. All else equal, this means the budget problem is likely to be higher at the time of the May Revision.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4850

The 2026-27 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

Nov 19, 2025 - Moreover, we estimate costs in other programs to be about $6  billion higher than anticipated. Starting in 2027 ‑28, we estimate structural deficits to grow to about $35  billion annually due to spending growth continuing to outstrip revenue growth.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5091

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

The 2023-24 Budget: Overview of the Spending Plan (Final Version)

Oct 16, 2023 - Appendix 4, Figure 6 Remaining Large One ‑Time and Temporary Augmentations From the 2021 ‑22 and 2022 ‑23 Budget Packages: Public Safety General Fund (In millions) Organized Retail, Motor Vehicle, and Cargo Theft Prevention Grants (Public Safety Package) $85 Augmentation to California Violence Intervention and Prevention Program 66 Note: Includes augmentations above $50 million BSCC = Board of State and Community Corrections.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4788/4

The 2022-23 Budget: California’s Fiscal Outlook

Nov 17, 2021 - Figure 6 displays our estimates of the budget ’s condition over the outlook period. As the figure shows, although we estimate the budget has an available surplus of $31 billion to allocate in 2022 ‑23, the amount available on an ongoing basis —the operating surplus —is lower.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4472

The 2018-19 May Revision: LAO Economic Outlook

May 12, 2018 - Figure  2, at the end of this post, lists the major economic variables under our new moderate growth scenario through 2022. As we discussed in November, accurately predicting the future path of the economy is not possible.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3829