The 2026-27 Budget: California Competes Extension

Mar 18, 2026 - The program is conceptually well structured and has recent empirical evidence supporting the idea that the credit is leading to a net increase in jobs in the state. Therefore, we recommend that the Legislature approve the Governor ’s proposal to extend the credit.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5162

Fixing Unemployment Insurance

Dec 2, 2024 - Under this idea, an employer would not pay taxes on a worker ’s income in excess of the income on which a worker is eligible for wage replacement under UI. In  other words, no taxes would be paid on wages that are not covered by UI.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4943

Income Mobility in California Across Generations

Jan 4, 2017 - Introduction Equality of opportunity—the idea that all children should have a chance to succeed as adults—is a key motivation for many state policies. However, this abstract idea is difficult to quantify, so researchers investigate it indirectly by examining other related concepts.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3518

Volatility of the Personal Income Tax Base

Feb 8, 2017 - The idea of imputed rent is that not having to pay rent effectively gives homeowners more income. Imputed interest includes investment income earned on insurance policies, the value of implicit services provided by banks and other lenders, and interest earned on employee pension plans.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3548

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: Business Tax Incentives

Jan 28, 2021 - The idea of adding grants to California Competes raises questions that require significant Legislative deliberation. Due to these concerns and others, we suggest that the Legislature instead focus on expanding the Main Street Credit proposal.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4327

Do Communities Adequately Plan for Housing?

Mar 8, 2017 - The process of developing RHNA projections could be improved to better account for unmet housing demand and give communities a more realistic idea of their housing needs. One option could be to adjust the current demographic ‑based projections to account for signs of unmet housing demand, such as high rents or low vacancy rates.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3605

The 2018-19 May Revision: LAO Economic Outlook

May 12, 2018 - The typical PE ratio since 1990 is 21 (19 if the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s and early 2000s is excluded). Similar to the price-to-earnings ratio, the home price-to-rent ratio is used to gauge if home prices are in line with underlying demand for housing.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3829

Managing California’s Cash

Sep 3, 2019 - After a period of relative calm in the mid ‑ and late ‑1990s, California faced another series of years with acute budget problems following the dot ‑com bust and ensuing recession. Although the dot ‑com bust was relatively mild in economic terms, it hit the California budget —which is particularly reliant on the Bay Area ’s technology sector —especially hard.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4092

The 2017-18 Budget: Governor's Gann Limit Proposal

Mar 2, 2017 - As revenues surged during the dot ‑com boom of the late 1990s, however, the state approached the limit. The state had excess revenues in 1999 ‑00, but because appropriations were under the limit in 2000 ‑01, additional Proposition  98 spending and taxpayer rebates were not required.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3596