Updating the California Necessities Index

Aug 14, 2025 - To score well on this assessment, the average of the differences across years should be small. It  is also important that these differences be symmetric: a new measure should minimize the extent to which changes are consistently higher or lower than the current CNI.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5065

Updating the California Necessities Index [Publication Details]

Aug 14, 2025 - Recent changes were made to the publication of statistics required to calculate the California Necessities Index, which is used to adjust certain benefit rates and cost-of-living adjustments. In this brief, we provide details on the changes and evaluate alternatives for the index that require only currently available data and conform to the original intent of the index.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5065

Income Mobility in California Across Generations

Jan 4, 2017 - As noted earlier, place–specific mobility also certainly varies within counties, but within–county data are not available. Californians’ Higher Mobility Not Due to Living in California. California has above average broad mobility, but below average place–specific mobility.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3518

Evaluation of the Property Tax Postponement Program

Oct 8, 2018 - All else equal, a low ‑income person living in Santa Clara County is likely to spend more on housing than a person with the same income living in Imperial County. Participation PTP Historically Has Had Low Participation.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3885

Local Sales Tax Rebates in 2023-24

Sep 16, 2025 - One-quarter of Californians live in a jurisdiction that paid rebates in 2023-24. Focusing on these areas, Figure  3 displays the distribution of rebate payments across jurisdictions, weighted by the number of residents.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5074

The 2022-23 Budget: Supply Chain and Port Infrastructure Proposals

Feb 15, 2022 - The Governor ’s budget provides $3.5  million from the General Fund in 2022 ‑23 (and $10  million annually from 2023 ‑24 through 2025 ‑26) for DMV to lease dedicated commercial drive test centers in the Bay Area and northern Los Angeles County.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4540

Evaluation of a Tax Exemption for Zero-Emission Buses

Apr 15, 2024 - Local governments, such as cities, counties, and local transit authorities, generally own and operate these agencies. In 2019, passenger fares and fees provided 17  percent of funding for these agencies.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4890

California’s Low-Wage Workers and Minimum Wage

Mar 11, 2024 - IHSS providers ’ wages are determined through collective bargaining with county governments. As of February 2024, IHSS provider wages in many counties exceeded $18 per hour. Nevertheless, the OEWS estimates suggest that the median wage for home health and personal care aides was below $17.50 per hour in 2023.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4878/1

The Property Tax Inheritance Exclusion

Oct 9, 2017 - Consequently, monthly ownership costs for these homeowners were around $1,000 less than the typical homeowner ($1,650 vs. $670). Because most inherited homes have been owned for decades, children typically are receiving a property with lower ownership costs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3706

Do Communities Adequately Plan for Housing?

Mar 8, 2017 - Households unwilling or unable to pay these high costs are forced to live somewhere else. Households forced to live somewhere else do not show up in California’s past demographic trends and therefore are not reflected in RHNA calculations.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3605