The 2026-27 Budget: CDTFA’s Cannabis and Tobacco Programs

Feb 23, 2026 - In the case of the Cannabis Tax Program, we note: The administration has not presented any arguments linking the General Fund ’s share of costs to its share of indirect benefits. This is not part of a broad, systematic effort to allocate costs based on indirect benefits.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5132

The 2022-23 Budget: Fuel Price and Other Fiscal Relief Options

May 12, 2022 - Providing tax refunds to vehicle owners would be less directly linked to fuel consumption, but would provide some related relief given that these individuals likely drive to some degree. Providing rebates to zero ‑emission vehicle owners (as included in the Governor ’s proposal), however, would not have any link to gas price  burden.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4597

The 2025-26 Budget: CDTFA’s Tobacco Programs

Feb 14, 2025 - This fee-funded program is a key element of the Master Settlement Agreement that California and 45 other states reached with the four largest cigarette manufacturers in 1998. The California Electronic Cigarette Excise Tax Program administers a 12.5  percent tax on retail sales of e-cigarettes.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4966

Tax Credit Expansions in the American Rescue Plan

Apr 13, 2021 - We also discuss changes to the dependent care exclusion which is linked to the child care credit. These changes are for tax year 2021 only except where otherwise noted. (We refer to the prior provisions of these tax credits as “prior law. ” Because the new provisions are scheduled to only be in effect in 2021 in most cases, we anticipate the provisions to revert to prior law starting in 2022.)
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4410

The 2020-21 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 13, 2020 - Recommend Linking Base Increases With Clear, Explicit Expectations. By failing to link base funding increases to clear, specific state spending priorities, the administration effectively relinquishes important budget responsibilities.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4135

California’s Low-Wage Workers and Minimum Wage

Mar 11, 2024 - Linking this definition to the one laid out above, most —but not necessarily the vast majority —of the workers in each low-wage occupation are low-wage workers. Largest: Home Health and Personal Care Aides.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4878/1

The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions

Oct 16, 2025 - The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions 90 $6,314.1 For a variety of reasons, we do not reflect certain capital outlay projects in the figure or linked table. Specifically, to avoid double counting previously provided funds or because specific data are not available, we do not include projects for which funding is: (1)  continuously appropriated, such as some bond
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5081/

The 2019-20 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 14, 2019 - The Legislature, however, might consider more targeted initiatives linked with specific goals. For example, it could link any one ‑time workforce funding to helping with a transition to a new child care reimbursement rate system and/or higher minimum program standards.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3916

California’s Low-Wage Workers and Minimum Wage

Mar 11, 2024 - Bollinger et al. (2019) study response patterns to earnings questions in the CPS ’s Annual Social and Economic Supplement by linking the survey data to administrative data. They find that methods based on the assumption that earnings responses are conditionally missing at random —such as the conventional weighting approach described above —produce particularly inaccurate
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4878/4

Taxation of Sugary Drinks

Nov 26, 2018 - When policymakers link a program ’s budget to revenue from a specific tax, the resulting funding often diverges from program costs over time. Example: First 5 California. First 5 California —which funds services for children under 5 years old —receives the vast majority of its funding from tobacco taxes.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3903