Comparing Options to Raise and Lower Taxes [Publication Details]

Mar 24, 2026 - This report lays out various options to raise and lower taxes in California and offers a comparative evaluation of those options in the areas of budgeting, economy, taxpayer experience, progressivity, and fairness.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5170

The Bay-Delta Plan and Voluntary Agreements: Ensuring Effective Legislative Oversight

Mar 18, 2026 - Given the high stakes for fish and water users, the Legislature can play a critical role in monitoring plan implementation. Because the VAs are designed to adapt as new information becomes available —and the board retains authority to terminate the VAs for some or all water users if they are not working as intended —performance will require ongoing evaluation.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5163

The 2026-27 Budget: Department of Developmental Services

Mar 13, 2026 - Data Limitations While the department provides some data on spending drivers, publicly available data are fairly limited. This means that the Legislature ’s ability to understand spending drivers at a more nuanced level is limited.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5157

How Have Past Stock Market Downturns Affected Income Tax Revenue? [EconTax Blog]

Mar 9, 2026 - This Time Might Be Different, but It Is Not Safe to Bet on It.   As our office warned last November, it now appears time to take seriously the notion that the stock market has become overheated. While there is a chance that this time is different and no such downturn is forthcoming, the risk appears strong enough that we have incorporated it into the state 's revenue outlook.  
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/852

How Have Past Stock Market Downturns Affected Income Tax Revenue? [EconTax Blog]

Mar 9, 2026 - This Time Might Be Different, but It Is Not Safe to Bet on It.   As our office warned last November, it now appears time to take seriously the notion that the stock market has become overheated. While there is a chance that this time is different and no such downturn is forthcoming, the risk appears strong enough that we have incorporated it into the state 's revenue outlook.  
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/article/Detail/852

The 2026-27 Budget: Streamlining California’s Affordable Housing Funding System

Mar 6, 2026 - Also, HCD currently plays a key role in the review and implementation of AHSC, so it already has “in house ” knowledge of the program. Further, the intent is that this knowledge and program capacity will be transmitted to HDFC through the proposed position transfers from HCD  to HDFC.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5154

The 2026-27 Budget: County Administration and H.R. 1 Implementation

Mar 5, 2026 - What role do state policy decisions about eligibility processes play in affecting the complexity of operations and increasing or reducing the error rate in each program? Are there changes in state policy the state could consider that would reduce errors?
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5149

The 2026-27 Budget: Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment (SSI/SSP) Program

Mar 3, 2026 - DSS has recently compared maximum grant amounts for individuals and couples to county-level fair market rents (FMR). Specifically, at the county level, DSS compares the maximum SSI/SSP grant amount for individuals to the FMR of an efficiency unit (an apartment unit with no separately enclosed bedroom, similar to a studio apartment) and the maximum SSI/SSP grant amount for couples to the FMR of a one-bedroom unit.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5148

The 2026-27 Budget: Medi-Cal Analysis

Mar 2, 2026 - According to DHCS, however, federal administrators have communicated that there are fairly limited options to structure the private hospital fee in 2025 (see the nearby box). Given these limited options, the administration ’s assumptions around the private hospital fee appear to be reasonable.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5146

The 2026-27 Budget: University of California

Feb 26, 2026 - While health care costs at UC are growing, these costs as a share of UC ’s total core expenditures have remained fairly stable over the past decade, hovering around 7  percent. Financial Aid Spending Has Increased in Tandem With Enrollment Growth and Tuition Increases.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5143