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

Feb 17, 2026 - The Governor ’s budget released in January assumes all the residual positions are eliminated and, accordingly, scores associated annual savings in both 2025-26 and 2026-27. For environmental positions, this amounts to annual savings of about $71  million (about $32  million General Fund).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5124

The 2026-27 Budget: Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation Proposals

Mar 19, 2026 - In 2023, the Legislature approved the administration ’s request to transition most of the office ’s employees to traditional civil service status, which required standardization of various processes such as hiring and employee classifications.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5167

The 2026-27 Budget: Permitting Support at the State Water Resources Control Board

Mar 2, 2026 - Supreme Court Decision in 2023 Narrowed Federal Jurisdiction … A 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision — Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ( Sackett ) —narrowed the definition of WOTUS. The ruling limits federal jurisdiction to relatively permanent bodies of water and to wetlands that have a continuous surface connection to WOTUS.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5144

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

Mar 18, 2026 - Other fish that migrate through or live in the Delta also are listed as threatened or endangered, including Central Valley steelhead and Delta smelt. State Failing to Meet Goal for Doubling Natural Salmon Population.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5163

The 2026-27 Budget: Governor’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel Tax Credit Proposal

Feb 24, 2026 - These pressures are expected to grow as the state works to further increase ZEV adoption to meet its ambitious climate goals, as we discuss in our 2023 report, Assessing California’s Climate Policies—Implications for State Transportation Funding and Programs .
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5139

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

Feb 10, 2026 - The state has various existing funding sources that it uses to support ZEV and other clean transportation programs, such as (1)  revenue collected from vehicle ‑related taxes pursuant to Chapter  319 of 2023 (A B  126 , Reyes), (2)  Low Carbon Fuel Standard program credits allocated through CARB regulations, and (3)  settlement monies that are deposited into APCF.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5116