The 2026-27 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

Nov 19, 2025 - The 2026-27 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook Executive Summary Not Safe to Bet Artificial Intelligence ( AI) Fueled Exuberance Is Sustainable. Both the California and U.S. economies currently face significant headwinds.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5091

The 2026-27 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 12, 2026 - That said, recent budgets have set the SFEU bet ween $3.5  billion and $4.5  billion, so the Governor ’s budget proposal to set the balance to $4.5  billion is generally in line with recent policy.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5101

New Inflation Poses Not So New Budget Risk

Dec 15, 2022 - History suggests that it is difficult for the Fed to weaken demand enough to reduce inflation but not so much as to tip the economy into a recession. This reflects that the Fed ’s tools for implementing changes in monetary policy are blunt and operate with a considerable lag, making attempts at fine-tuning very challenging.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4653

The 2017-18 Budget: California Spending Plan

Oct 18, 2017 - Driver License and Identification Card Federal Compliance. The budget provides an increase of $23  million and 218  positions in 2017 ‑18 (and $46.6  million and 550  positions in 2018 ‑19) for the issuance of new driver licenses and identification cards that comply with federal standards for identity verification and security features.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3694/10

The 2018-19 Budget: California Spending Plan (Final Version)

Oct 2, 2018 - Driver License and Identification (ID) Card Processing. The 2018 ‑ 19 b udget includes $ 351  m illion for DMV to process driver licenses and ID cards. This is an increase of $ 21  m illion from the 2017 ‑ 18 l evel due to workload related to the issuance of new driver licenses and ID cards that comply with federal standards —commonly referred to
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3870/10

The 2019-20 Budget: California Spending Plan (Final Version)

Oct 17, 2019 - The spending plan allocates $5. 9  b illion General Fund to pay down unfunded pension liabilities on behalf of both the state and school districts (some of which is counted toward the state ’s Proposition  2 debt payment requirements).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4083

The Definition of Qualified Capital Outlay for the State Appropriations Limit

Feb 18, 2022 - Does the State Need to Own the Asset to Count It as an Exclusion? No, nothing in statute requires the state (or, indeed, an entity of government) to own an asset for it to be counted as an exclusion.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4547

An Extraordinary Moment in California's Fiscal History

Apr 11, 2019 - Lower gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates imply less distance to outright contraction and raise the risk that unforeseen events could more easily tip the economy into a downturn. California ’s practice in recent years of increasing its budget reserves is prudent and akin to taking out an insurance policy against the inevitable revenue shortfalls that will accompany the next recession.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4003

The State Appropriations Limit

Apr 21, 2021 - Funding That Cannot Be Counted Toward District Limits Is Counted at the State Level. In most cases, districts have greater proceeds of taxes than they are able to count toward their local limits. The portion of funding (whether from the state or property taxes) that cannot be counted toward district limits is counted using the state ’s limit.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4416

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

Jan 13, 2024 - As the left side of Figure  1 shows, we estimate the administration counts about $21  billion in budget solutions as baseline changes. The largest of these changes impacts schools and community colleges.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4825