The 2026-27 Budget: Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation Proposals

Mar 19, 2026 - In 2023, the Legislature approved the administration ’s request to transition most of the office ’s employees to traditional civil service status, which required standardization of various processes such as hiring and employee classifications.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5167

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

Mar 2, 2026 - Supreme Court Decision in 2023 Narrowed Federal Jurisdiction … A 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision — Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ( Sackett ) —narrowed the definition of WOTUS. The ruling limits federal jurisdiction to relatively permanent bodies of water and to wetlands that have a continuous surface connection to WOTUS.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5144

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

Mar 18, 2026 - According to estimates from the Delta Stewardship Council, California achieved only about 10 percent of the annual target on average between 2018 and 2023. Recognition That Rivers Need More Water to Support Native Fish.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5163

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

Feb 17, 2026 - The final budget agreement instead eliminated fewer positions (4,994) and provided the Legislature additional time to review 1,009 additional positions which we refer to as “residual: ” (1)  those associated with implementing legislation chaptered in 2022 and 2023 across numerous departments, and (2)  all of those in nine specified departments which we highlight in Figure  1.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5124

The 2026-27 Budget: Governor’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel Tax Credit Proposal

Feb 24, 2026 - These pressures are expected to grow as the state works to further increase ZEV adoption to meet its ambitious climate goals, as we discuss in our 2023 report, Assessing California’s Climate Policies—Implications for State Transportation Funding and Programs .
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5139

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

Feb 10, 2026 - The state has various existing funding sources that it uses to support ZEV and other clean transportation programs, such as (1)  revenue collected from vehicle ‑related taxes pursuant to Chapter  319 of 2023 (A B  126 , Reyes), (2)  Low Carbon Fuel Standard program credits allocated through CARB regulations, and (3)  settlement monies that are deposited into APCF.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5116

The 2023-24 Budget: Crafting Climate, Resources, and Environmental Budget Solutions

Feb 22, 2023 - Indeed, the Governor and Legislature chose to spend most of the recent surpluses on one‑time expenditures as a form of budget resilience, with the expressed goal of avoiding making ongoing commitments that would be hard to sustain should economic conditions change.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4692

New Infrastructure Legislation: Summary and Issues for Legislative Oversight

Aug 8, 2023 - To help the Legislature in its oversight role, we recommend it focus its efforts —whatever forms and timing they may take —on addressing the following questions: How Is the Administration Selecting Which Projects Receive Expedited Treatment?
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4785

The 2024-25 California Spending Plan: Resources and Environmental Protection

Sep 12, 2024 - This represents a net decrease of $1.1  billion, or 56  percent, from the estimated 2023 ‑24 expenditure level. This decrease primarily is due to the expiration of one-time augmentations that were available to Parks in 2023 ‑24, including large carryovers from prior years.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4928

Assessing California’s Climate Policies—Residential Electricity Rates in California

Jan 7, 2025 - This is primarily because the program is structured to provide utilities with “free ” allowances to help them generate revenue they are then required to pass along to ratepayers in the form of a bill credit.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4950