Rethinking California's Reserve Policy

Apr 10, 2025 - Instead, core services will change over time as the state responds to changes in revenues by expanding or contracting the size of government. While a portion of temporary surges in revenue will be allocated to one ‑time spending, after a period of time, the Legislature will begin to expand service levels in response to sustained revenue growth.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5028

The 2025-26 Budget: Initial Comments on the Governor's May Revision

May 17, 2025 - A budget problem is inherently a point ‑in ‑time estimate that reflects information available at the time of development, forecasts of future revenues and spending, and assumptions about the extent to which changes in costs are due to current policy (that is, whether or not they are “baseline changes ”).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5044

Rethinking California's Reserve Policy [Publication Details]

Apr 10, 2025 - Rethinking California's Reserve Policy [Publication Details] HTML Description: Reserves allow the state to ensure stable funding for its services over time, even when revenue fluctuates unpredictably.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5028

The 2025-26 Budget: Undertaking Fiscal Oversight

Feb 24, 2025 - Although the Legislature solved sizeable deficits over the past few years, totaling over $80  billion, those solutions largely only impacted one-time and temporary programs supported by the one-time, post-pandemic revenue surge.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4983

The 2025-26 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 13, 2025 - In other words, we are not describing the budget condition as having a surplus or a deficit at this time. These concepts are inherently tools of communication, not accounting, and are ultimately somewhat subjective.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4951