The Bay-Delta Plan and Voluntary Agreements: Ensuring Effective Legislative Oversight

Mar 18, 2026 - Moreover, VAs are more flexible than traditional regulations (allowing adaptation in closer to real time), have fewer adverse impacts on water users, provide more certainty to water agencies, and could be implemented more quickly.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5163

The 2026-27 Budget: Proposed Elimination of State Environmental Positions

Feb 17, 2026 - For example, at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), positions include game wardens who prov ide important law enforcement and wildlife and resource protection services. Some CDFW positions also administer various permits, a key function to ensure that projects —from habitat restoration to infrastructure and housing development —can be completed with less damage to the environment.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5124

The 2026-27 Budget: Framework for Approaching the Natural Resources, Environmental Protection, and Agriculture Budget

Feb 10, 2026 - While this amendment does not yet obligate the state to make further workweek reductions, it does create a real possibility of additional policy changes that could increase annual General Fund costs by hundreds of millions of dollars.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5116

The 2026-27 Budget: Cap-and-Invest Expenditure Plan

Feb 10, 2026 - We note that the language of S B  840 indicates that the methodology applies to “moneys in the fund ” and thus does not clearly limit it exclusively to auction revenues. However, the administration indicates that the intent of S B   840 was to apply the methodology only to auction revenues, consistent with historical practice.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5114

The 2026-27 Budget: Proposed Zero-Emission Vehicle Incentive

Feb 24, 2026 - While ZEV ‑specific programs can play a role in augmenting the state ’s broader programs —such as by making ZEVs more accessible to low ‑income households and helping to encourage the market to produce a greater number and variety of vehicles —they are less critical than they otherwise would be without the “backstop ” of those broader GHG ‑reducing programs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5140