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

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

Rethinking California's Reserve Policy

Apr 10, 2025 - Reserves help smooth the difference —funds are saved when revenues are surging (the green regions in the figure below) and then spent when revenues decline below that long ‑term trajectory (the red regions).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5028

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 2016-17 Budget: California Spending Plan

Oct 5, 2016 - This amount consists of (1)  $303  million in lease revenue bond authority for the construction or renovation of five previously approved projects (Willows, El Centro, Indio, Redding, and Sonora), (2)  $85  million from the Immediate and Critical Needs Account (ICNA) for design and construction activities for ten projects, and (3)  $4  million from ICNA for the modification of two existing court facilities in Los Angeles.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3487/10

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

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 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

The 2021-22 Spending Plan: Other Provisions

Sep 23, 2021 - This includes $26.5  million for the acquisition phase of a project to build a Southern Region Emergency Operations Center and $16.7  million in reappropriated funds for the construction and equipment phases to relocate the Red Mountain Communications Site in Del Norte County.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4452

The 2018-19 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

Nov 15, 2017 - In short, this remaining operating deficit, the dark red bar in this figure, is the “budget problem ” that the Legislature would need to address under this scenario. Budget Commitments Would Deplete Reserves Sooner.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3718