The 2026-27 Budget: Department of Justice

Feb 11, 2026 - A large portion of the General Fund support is used to support the Armed and Prohibited Persons System (APPS) enforcement teams, which seize firearms from people prohibited from owning or possessing them.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5118

Addressing Chronic Vacancies in Prison Mental Health Care

Feb 23, 2026 - Those departments may seek increases in compensation to ensure their pay remains competitive with CDCR —potentially adding still more costs to the state. Extending Licensing Exemptions to Out‑of‑State Licensed Providers State Licensing Policies Limit Pool of Potential Providers.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5134

The 2017-18 Budget: Department of State Hospitals (DSH)

Feb 22, 2017 - Acute Psychiatric Programs (APPs). APPs provide shorter-term, intensive treatment for inmates who show signs of a major mental illness or higher-level symptoms of a chronic mental illness. Currently, there are 372 APP beds, all of which are in state prisons.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3578

Assessing Community College Programs at State Prisons

Jul 1, 2024 - Given that the results of the recommended data and studies have the potential to notably improve legislative decision ‑making on prison postsecondary education policy and programs moving forward, we believe the added administrative workload is warranted.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4913

The 2017-18 Budget: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Mar 1, 2017 - Instead of setting money aside when employees earn the benefit over the course of their careers, the state has —until recently —paid for these benefits on a pay-as-you-go basis after employees retire.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3595

The 2025-26 Budget: Department of Justice

Feb 19, 2025 - Most of the General Fund is used to support the Armed and Prohibited Persons System (APPS) enforcement teams, which seize firearms from individuals prohibited from owning or possessing them. This has been the case since 2019 ‑20 when the budget package shifted full support of these teams over to the General  Fund.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4972

The 2018-19 Budget: Criminal Justice Proposals

Feb 27, 2018 - We note, however, that the department makes requests for support positions on an ad ‑hoc basis rather than annually adjusting these positions for changes in the parolee population like it does for its positions that involve the direct supervision of parolees.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3762

The 2026-27 Budget: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Feb 23, 2026 - Adding More Licensing Exemptions for Those Who Work at Prisons. Currently, providers with out ‑of ‑state licenses are required to obtain a California license to work in CDCR, though some may use their out ‑of ‑state license on a temporary basis.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5137

Retail Theft in California: Looking Back at a Decade of Change

Jun 12, 2025 - Added Time for Certain Theft or Property Damage Felonies. Chapter  174 of 2024 (S B  1416 , Newman), Chapter  220 of 2024 (A B  1960 , Rivas), and Proposition  36 all added similar language to state law, which allows for increased sentences for people convicted of felonies in which the amount of property that was stolen or damaged is over $50,000,  with longer enhancement terms as the dollar amounts increase.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5055

The 2024-25 Budget: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Feb 22, 2024 - CDCR arrived at this estimate by adding the average expenditures on testing for staff between April 2023 and September 2023 and the prison population between April 2023 and August 2023 and assuming that the department would continue spending at that monthly rate in 2024‑25 and ongoing.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4852