The 2025-26 Budget: State Mandate—Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board

May 5, 2025 - Notably, Proposition  218 did not define what activities are encompassed by “sewer services. ” A 2017 State Law Defined “Sewer, ” Making Fee Increases Less Burdensome. Chapter  536 of 2017 (SB  231, Hertzberg) explicitly defined sewer to include both sanitary and stormwater systems.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5039

The 2026-27 Budget: Cap-and-Invest Expenditure Plan

Feb 10, 2026 - GGRF = Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund; DOF = Department of Finance; CalFire = California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection; SB  840  =  Chapter  121 of 2025 (SB 840, Lim ón); AB 617 = Chapter 136 of 2017 (AB 617, C.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5114

The 2026-27 Budget: Framework for Approaching the Natural Resources, Environmental Protection, and Agriculture Budget

Feb 10, 2026 - Following the Oroville Dam spillway incident in 2017, legislation increased both DWR ’s enforcement authority and dam inspection requirements. Without the additional funding, DWR would have less capacity to implement current law and ensure dam owners are following rules designed to protect people and property from dam failures.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5116

The 2018-19 Budget: Fire Recovery Proposals

Mar 1, 2018 - While we do not raise specific concerns about the administration ’s funding requests, we recommend that the Legislature direct the administration to report at budget hearings on the proposed funding and submit formal proposals for any future budget-year funding requests.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3767

Frequently Asked Questions About Wildfires in California

Jan 28, 2025 - However, as of this writing, we do not have comparabl e data on wildfire response spending over time across all of the relevant departments.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4952

The 2018-19 Budget: California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority (CAEATFA)

Feb 15, 2018 - The pilots involve some combination of (1) credit enhancements to lenders —such as loan loss reserves that cover some losses if borrowers do not fully repay loans —and/or (2) the option for customers to repay their loans on their monthly utility bill (known as on-bill repayment, or OBR).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3755

The 2026-27 Budget: Proposed Elimination of State Environmental Positions

Feb 17, 2026 - However, in many cases, the residual positions in question supported by special funds do not have a direct impact on the General Fund and thus do not factor directly into efforts to balance the budget.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5124

California’s Cap-and-Trade Program: Frequently Asked Questions

Oct 24, 2023 - For example, in 2017, AB  398 added the requirement that half of eligible offsets for the program be from projects that provide direct environmental benefits in California. What Will Happen to the Program After 2030?
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4811

The 2026-27 Budget: Permitting Support at the State Water Resources Control Board

Mar 2, 2026 - By contrast, dredge/fill certifications only require public notice of an application and do not require responses to comments. SWRCB indicates that the vast majority of dredge/fill projects do not receive public comments.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5144

Evaluating California's Pursuit of Zero Net Energy State Buildings

Nov 14, 2017 - (For more information on the cap ‑and ‑trade program, see our February 2017 r eport The 2017‑ 18 Budget: Cap‑and‑Trade.) LAO Assessment We find that a mandate for state buildings to be ZNE is not a necessary or cost ‑effective way for the state to achieve its GHG reduction goals.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3711