The 2026-27 Budget: California Competes Extension

Mar 18, 2026 - It provides nonrefundable tax credits to companies in exchange for a commitment to increase employment and investment in the state over several years. More specifically, the objective of the program is to influence a business ’s decision to make investments in California that would have been made in another state, or not at all, absent the credit.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5162

The 2026-27 Budget: CDTFA’s Cannabis and Tobacco Programs

Feb 23, 2026 - Direct the administration to make any future adjustments needed to support the program without spending any money from the General Fund. Reduce CDTFA ’s General Fund appropriation by the amount of the department ’s annual General Fund spending on the Cannabis Tax Program (as these funds clearly are not needed).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5132

The 2021-22 Budget: Business Tax Incentives

Jan 28, 2021 - While such assessments are subjective, GO ‑Biz appears to make a good faith effort to fulfill this requirement. Businesses Must Meet Hiring and Investment Commitments. Successful applicants negotiate written agreements with GO ‑Biz that specify hiring and investment targets over a five ‑year period.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4327

The 2025-26 Budget: Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development

Mar 18, 2025 - In addition, each applicant must propose to do one of the following: (1)  create 500 new full-time jobs, (2)  make an investment of at least $10  million, or (3)  create jobs or make an investment in a high-poverty or high-unemployment area.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5018

The 2024-25 Budget: Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development

Feb 20, 2024 - One key difference is the grant program’s focus on businesses making big investment promises, which has led it to make significantly larger awards to a smaller number of businesses. Given these differences, the grant program should be evaluated separately from the tax credit program.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4846

Evaluating State Economic Stimulus Proposals

Feb 1, 2021 - The state is prohibited from borrowing money to finance state operations. In most cases, voters must approve new bond authority before the state can raise the funds —a process that increases the amount of time between when the need for stimulus is identified and when any new spending may occur.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4331

Fixing Unemployment Insurance

Dec 2, 2024 - Repay the outstanding federal loan immediately by using new borrowing, split evenly between: (1) a revenue bond to be repaid by employers, and (2) Pooled Money Investment Account borrowing to be paid by the state ’s General Fund.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4943

The 2019-20 May Revision: Opportunity Zones

May 11, 2019 - A handful of other states have adopted state tax credits that mirror the federal New Market Tax Credit to encourage investors to shift their New Market Tax Credit investment to those states. To gauge the effect of these state credits, we looked at how New Market Tax Credit investments changed in states after they adopted state credits and compared these
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4038

Evaluation of a Sales Tax Exemption for Certain Manufacturers

Dec 11, 2018 - This information could help the Legislature and the public make future policy decisions. Increase to Full Exemption. As noted above, larger exemptions provide stronger investment incentives but also result in larger revenue losses.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3907

Review of the California Competes Tax Credit

Oct 31, 2017 - In this environment, the Legislature created California Competes to provide a tool to offer state tax benefits to attract or retain individual businesses that are considering making a significant new investment in California —employers that might not otherwise invest or remain here without such a financial incentive.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3709