The 2025-26 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

Nov 20, 2024 - Outside of government and health care, the state has added no jobs in a year and a half. Similarly, the number of Californians who are unemployed is 25  percent higher than during the strong labor markets of 2019 and 2022.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4939

The 2026-27 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

Nov 19, 2025 - The 2026-27 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook Executive Summary Not Safe to Bet Artificial Intelligence ( AI) Fueled Exuberance Is Sustainable. Both the California and U.S. economies currently face significant headwinds.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5091

An Extraordinary Moment in California's Fiscal History

Apr 11, 2019 - One reason to consider staying the course on adding to reserves is the degree to which the federal government ’s fiscal position has deteriorated over the past one-to-two years (see Figure  2). Measured against U.S.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4003

The 2026-27 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 12, 2026 - That said, recent budgets have set the SFEU bet ween $3.5  billion and $4.5  billion, so the Governor ’s budget proposal to set the balance to $4.5  billion is generally in line with recent policy.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5101

The 2025-26 Budget: Overview of the Spending Plan

Oct 16, 2025 - (Modified versions of Control Sections 90.00 and 90.01 were also added to the 2025 ‑26 Budget Act , extending the availability of these funds. For more on this please see our forthcoming publication, The 2025 ‑26 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions .)
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5079

The 2022-23 Budget: Initial Comments on the State Appropriations Limit Proposal

Feb 4, 2022 - There are many options for tax reductions, including: broad ‑based rebates, targeted rebates, and expansions of tax credits and programs like the Earned Income Tax Credit. Compared to waiting to address excess revenues, this option would afford the state more flexibility in designing the reductions.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4515

The 2019-20 Budget: Structuring the Budget: Reserves, Debt and Liabilities

Feb 5, 2019 - Specifically, if the state transfers these funds to a pension system, the system ’s board can invest the funds, likely earning a higher rate of return than the funds would earn invested as state reserves.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3925

The 2021-22 California Spending Plan: The State Appropriations Limit

Aug 30, 2021 - The 2021-22 California Spending Plan: The State Appropriations Limit The 2021-22 California Spending Plan The State Appropriations Limit In the late 1970s, voters passed Proposition  4 (1979), which added Article XIIIB to the State Constitution.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4449

California’s Strong Revenue Trends Mask Looming Budget Risk

Jan 23, 2026 - The added risk variable weighs on the range of revenue outcomes that we view as most plausible. The middle of the range, which becomes our main revenue forecast, is thus lower than if we did not include the stock market risk indicator.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5104

The 2024-25 Budget: Proposition 2 Debt Payment Proposals

Mar 20, 2024 - Supplemental Pensions Payments Employers May Contribute Any Amount of Money Above What Is Required. Pension boards determine —either according to actuarial standards or statutory requirements —how much money employers must contribute to the pension system each year to address any existing unfunded liabilities.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4887