The 2026-27 Budget: Department of Justice

Feb 11, 2026 - DROS Special Account expenditures routinely exceeded revenues prior to 2019-20 —resulting in the decline of the fund balance. To help ensure sufficient revenues would be available to support BOF workload, Chapter  736 of 2019 (AB  1669, Bonta) enabled DOJ to increase the DROS fee charged from $19 to $31.19.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5118

The 2026-27 Budget: Judicial Branch

Feb 11, 2026 - Similarly, while most of the remaining projects on the 2019 list have not been reassessed, the costs of projects in other parts of the state are likely increasing. For example, the 2019 assessment estimated the new Fresno Courthouse project would cost $483  million.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5113

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 2026-27 Budget: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Feb 23, 2026 - To address these issues, other department may seek similar compensation increases to ensure their pay remains competitive with CDCR. Governor’s Proposal Reasonable As discussed above, the Receiver ’s action plan was approved by the court when appointing the Receiver and appears to be a reasonable start to addressing the key areas of noncompliance.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5137