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

Whether or Not to Tap Reserves to Solve Estimated Budget Problem Emerges as Key Fiscal Decision Facing California’s Legislature

Apr 19, 2023 - Other downturns, such as the 2001 so-called dot-com recession, had severe fiscal implications while inflicting somewhat milder economic damage. The 2008 Great Recession had brutal effects on both the state ’s economy and budget.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4762

The 2026-27 Budget: How to Use One-Time Revenue Improvements

Feb 20, 2026 - Although the state faces significant cost pressures due to reductions in federal funding, using one-time resources to backfill those ongoing reductions would put the state on even worse fiscal footing going forward.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5133

The 2024-25 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions

Oct 2, 2024 - Governor ’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) Transfers Existing Programs Into GO-Biz. Due to the restructuring of the Governor ’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (formerly the Governor ’s Office of Planning and Research), the budget transfers both the Zero-Emission Vehicle Program and the California Jobs First Program to GO-Biz, the latter of which is a partnership with the Labor and Workforce Development Agency.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4934

The 2024-25 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions

Oct 2, 2024 - Governor ’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) Transfers Existing Programs Into GO-Biz. Due to the restructuring of the Governor ’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation (formerly the Governor ’s Office of Planning and Research), the budget transfers both the Zero-Emission Vehicle Program and the California Jobs First Program to GO-Biz, the latter of which is a partnership with the Labor and Workforce Development Agency.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4934/governors-office-of-emergency-services

The 2026-27 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

Nov 19, 2025 - 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. The internet has proven to be a transformative technology and, yet, the stock market ’s initial reaction was clearly overly exuberant.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5091

The 2023-24 Budget: Multiyear Assessment

Feb 15, 2023 - Three of those —the recession in the early 1990s, the dot ‑com bust in the early 2000s, and the Great Recession —resulted in large revenue shortfalls and ensuing multiyear deficits, even for some years after each recession ended.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4687

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

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: Multiyear Budget Outlook

May 24, 2025 - This is important because, going forward, the budget problems will become more difficult to solve. The Legislature likely will need to adopt additional solutions that increase ongoing revenues or reduce ongoing spending —both of which involve the most difficult and consequential trade-offs for policy makers.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5052