The 2026-27 Budget: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Feb 23, 2026 - Goal 3 Provide Adequate Care at Every Level and Treat Each Patient at the Appropriate Level of Care Selected Actions Evaluate the use of Resource Teams to enhance patients ’ ability and willingness to step down.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5137

The 2026-27 Budget: Department of Justice

Feb 11, 2026 - This would then allow the Legislature to determine what fee levels it is comfortable with —which could be higher or lower than those recommended by DOJ. If the fee levels are lower than current or projected costs, the Legislature would be better equipped to assess (1)  how much of this workload needs to be supported from the General Fund at the cost of other
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5118

Addressing Chronic Vacancies in Prison Mental Health Care

Feb 23, 2026 - Increase Use of CDCR Tele ‑Mental Health to Maximum Court ‑Approved Levels. We recommend directing CDCR to increase the use of tele ‑mental health up to the maximum levels approved by the court. This could attract qualified professionals who might not otherwise want to work in a prison setting, as well as allow the state to recruit from areas where there are more providers available.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5134

The 2026-27 Budget: Estimated State Savings From Proposition 47

Feb 23, 2026 - The 2026-27 Budget: Estimated State Savings From Proposition 47 Estimated State Savings From Proposition  47 Background Proposition  47 (2014) Reduced Punishment for Certain Lower-Level Drug and Property Crimes.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5108

The 2026-27 Budget: Judicial Branch

Feb 11, 2026 - This means the state lacks the necessary revenues to sustain current expenditure levels. As such, any proposals that require new General Fund support require greater scrutiny and must meet a higher bar for approval as it would reduce General Fund spending elsewhere.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5113

Addressing Chronic Vacancies in Prison Mental Health Care [Publication Details]

Feb 23, 2026 - For over three decades, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has faced litigation for providing unconstitutional levels of prison mental health care, in part due to chronic vacancies among mental health staff.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5134

Improving California’s Prison Inmate Classification System

May 2, 2019 - Moreover, by excluding low ‑risk sex offenders from all Level  I facilities, these policies unnecessarily increase the number of inmates who must be housed in Level  II facilities. However, currently, Level  I facilities are populated at less than 100  p ercent of their design capacity, while Level  II facilities are populated at over 100  p ercent of their design capacity.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4023

The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Judiciary and Criminal Justice

Oct 24, 2025 - This reduction is $11  million more than the revised 2024-25 level. General Fund Operational Solutions. The budget reflects various General Fund adjustments to judicial branch operations to help address the state ’s budget problem.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5085

The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Judiciary and Criminal Justice [Publication Details]

Oct 24, 2025 - The 2025-26 budget provides $17.3 billion from the General Fund for judicial and criminal justice programs, including support for program operations and capital outlay projects. This is a decrease of $569 million, or 3 percent, below the revised 2024-25 level.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5085

Retail Theft in California: Looking Back at a Decade of Change

Jun 12, 2025 - Retail Theft Remains Well Below Historical Levels. As shown in Figure  3 , despite increases over the last decade, the retail theft rate remains well below historical highs that occurred in the 1980s.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5055