The 2026-27 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

Nov 19, 2025 - History suggests that the stock market is prone to overreact to major technological advances, even if the technology itself turns out to be revolutionary. For California, the dot ‑com era —when stocks rose and then fell precipitously in response to widespread adoption of the internet —offers the most salient example.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5091

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

The 2017-18 Budget: California Highway Patrol

Feb 9, 2017 - Specifically, the 2013 ‑14 budget included $1.5  million for advanced planning and site selection to replace up to five unspecified CHP area offices. Based on the results of this advanced planning, the 2014 ‑15 budget provided (1) $32.4  million to fund the acquisition and preliminary plans for five new CHP area offices in Crescent City, Quincy, San Diego, Santa
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3551

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

The 2021-22 Budget: Initial Comments on the Governor’s May Revision

May 17, 2021 - CDPH = California Department of Public Health; COVID ‑19 = coronavirus disease 2019; CHHS = California Health and Human Services Agency; HHS = Health and Human Services; GARE = Government Alliance on Race and Equity; EMSA = Emergency Medical Services Authority; CalAIM = California Advancing and Innovating Medi ‑Cal; ICF ‑DDs = Intermediate Care Facilities for the Developmentally
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4432/2

New Inflation Poses Not So New Budget Risk

Dec 15, 2022 - Whereas automation and technological advancement have contributed to economywide gains in worker productivity, such gains are more limited in labor-intensive service sectors (including health care and education).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4653

A Framework for Allocating Federal Recovery Funds

May 4, 2021 - The federal recovery funds combined with the state budget surplus offer the Legislature a historic opportunity to advance its policy agenda. Doing so in a fiscally sustainable way, however, will require navigating, as a new dimension to the budget process, how the surplus, the SAL, and the federal funds interact.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4422

Rethinking California's Reserve Policy

Apr 10, 2025 - In March of 2004, on the heels of the dot ‑com bust, voters passed Proposition  58, which created the Budget Stabilization Account (BSA). In the 2006 ‑07 budget, the Legislature deposited $472  million into the BSA and in 2007 ‑08 deposited $1.5  billion.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5028

The 2025-26 Budget: Undertaking Fiscal Oversight

Feb 24, 2025 - For instance, California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal, a recent initiative to test new ways of delivering services, could be a focus of Medi -Cal oversight. Focusing on key elements of larger programs can provide the Legislature more detailed and practicable insight into program dynamics.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4983

An Update on California’s Cash Management Situation

Aug 31, 2020 - Our office monitors the state ’s cash position in order to anticipate these potential challenges for the Legislature in advance. In this post, we give an update on the General Fund ’s current cash situation.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4266