The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Housing, Homelessness and Local Government

Oct 22, 2025 - Amends CEQA Requirements Pertaining to Various Housing and Other Development. The changes, which are contained in three budget trailer bills, include: (1)  narrowing the scope of existing required environmental reviews for housing projects that meet all but one criterion for an exemption from the CEQA process and (2)  eliminating the requirement
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5082

The 2025-26 Budget: State Mandates—Regional Water Quality Control Boards

May 30, 2025 - We also find that suspending the mandates would not actually remove the past requirements, meaning that the local governments could not go back in time and cease required activities to avoid incurring costs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5054

The 2025-26 Budget: State Mandate—Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board

May 5, 2025 - Because the California Constitution does not require the state to reimburse local governments for costs to comply with federal law, disagreements have arisen over the years about whether all of the requirements in a given water quality permit are specifically required by federal law or whether they impose ad ditional requirements from the state.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5039

The 2025-26 Budget: Oversight of Encampment Resolution Funding [Publication Details]

Mar 5, 2025 - To assist the Legislature in its fiscal oversight role of this large and multiyear program, this post: (1) provides data on the size of the population of people experiencing homelessness in California and recent state spending on housing and homelessness; (2) describes the ERF program’s goals, funding, and reporting requirements; (3) provides an update on ERF grantee awards,
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5007

The 2025-26 Budget: Oversight of Encampment Resolution Funding

Mar 5, 2025 - (A CoC is a federally required regional planning and coordination body comprising local governments, nonprofit service providers, and other member entities focused on addressing homelessness in their area.)
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5007

The 2024-25 Budget: Juvenile Custodial Interrogation Mandate

May 28, 2024 - Exempted from this requirement are interrogations by probation officers in their normal duties an d questioning necessary to protect life or property from an imminent threat. Under Chapter  681, these requirements were to sunset beginning January 1, 2025.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4910

The 2023-24 Budget: County of Los Angeles Citizens Redistricting Commission Mandate

May 2, 2023 - Because the Legislature took specific steps to require Los Angeles to use an independent redistricting commission while making it optional for other jurisdictions, no longer requiring such a commission in Los Angeles would represent a significant policy change.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4766

The 2022-23 Budget: Municipal Stormwater and Urban Runoff Discharges Mandate

Feb 28, 2022 - In 2009, the commission determined that the permit requirement to install and maintain trash receptacles at transit stops constituted a mandate because the federal Clean Water Act does not explicitly require this specific action.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4565

Climate Change Impacts Across California - Housing

Apr 5, 2022 - For example, local governments could be required to implement adaptation measures like requiring land to be set aside surrounding developments for uses that can serve as natural fuel breaks to help reduce the fire risk to those developments.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4584

The 2022-23 Budget: The Governor’s Homelessness Plan

Feb 9, 2022 - Local Match Requirement. The amounts that local entities will be required to provide as the match for BH ‑CIP funding vary by applicant type. Specifically, (1)  tribal entities will be required to provide 5  percent in matching funds; (2)  counties, cities, and nonprofits will be required to provide 10  percent in matching funds;
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4521