The 2026-27 Budget: In-Home Supportive Services

Mar 18, 2026 - Below, we provide some information on how the average hours per case have changed over time. Average Hours Per Case Have Steadily Increased Over Time. As shown in Figure  6 , the average monthly IHSS paid hours per case has increased by roughly 2  percent annually since 2014.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5166

The 2026-27 Budget: County Administration and H.R. 1 Implementation

Mar 5, 2026 - What role do county policies and processes and the design and operation of automation and data systems play in determining the state ’s error rates in each program? Do some counties have significantly higher or lower error rates than others and are there practices or other circumstances that contribute to this  variation?
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5149

The 2026-27 Budget: Child Welfare

Mar 3, 2026 - What do youth and families view as the most notable results or effects of the funding? What have been obstacles, challenges, or delays to implementation? To what extent and how have DSS and program partners been able to address these issues?
https://lao.ca.gov/publications/report/5147

The 2026-27 Budget: CalWORKs

Feb 18, 2026 - We do not recommend any adjustments to the proposed budget related to unspent TANF funds at this time. Federal TANF Program Provides Flexible Funding. Federal law gives states significant flexibility in how they use TANF block grant funds and related MOE expenditures.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5122

Implementing California’s Child Welfare Prevention Services Program

Jan 28, 2026 - (Pregnant or parenting foster youth are automatically eligible for prevention services and do not require individual assessments.) California ’s state plan requires counties to assess individuals to determine candidacy using an “unbiased process and/or tools to assess risk. ” (To aid counties in this assessment, DSS is working to develop a candidacy determination guide including concrete examples on how to assess for candidacy in an unbiased manner.)
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5106

The 2026-27 Budget: Streamlining California’s Affordable Housing Funding System

Mar 6, 2026 - AHSC Merit to Moving Affordable Housing Awards to HDFC … Overall, having AHSC ’s affordable housing program at HDFC has the potential to simplify how developers build their capital stack. This is because, rather than having programs spread across SGC and other state entities, developers would be able to apply for funding at one place —HDFC .
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5154

The 2026-27 Budget: Food Assistance Programs

Feb 18, 2026 - Although CalFresh benefits are paid by the federal government, costs to administer the program are shared by state, county, and federal governments. Currently, 50  percent of administrative costs are covered by the federal government, 35  percent by the state, and 15  percent by counties.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5126

The 2026-27 Budget: Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment (SSI/SSP) Program

Mar 3, 2026 - The state has full discretion over whether and how to provide increases to the SSP portion of the grant. Until it was ended in 2011, the state had a statutory annual COLA. These COLAs generally reflected whole-grant COLAs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5148

Implementing California’s Child Welfare Prevention Services Program [Publication Details]

Jan 28, 2026 - This report discusses ongoing implementation of California’s Family First Prevention Services program since 2021-22.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5106