The 2026-27 Budget: Re-Envisioning State Education Governance

Mar 18, 2026 - For example, the state will still need to work towards improving student achievement, addressing the fiscal and academic problems of struggling districts, clearly defining its educational goals, and improving its teacher and administrative workforce.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5165

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

Mar 18, 2026 - The Bay ‑Delta Plan identifies beneficial uses, sets water quality objectives, and prescribes a program of implementation for the entire watershed. SWRCB (rather than a regional board) manages the Bay ‑Delta Plan because the watershed spans multiple regions and sets flow requirements.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5163

The 2026-27 Budget: In-Home Supportive Services

Mar 18, 2026 - We note that we are still working with the administration to better understand key aspects of the Governor ’s budget proposals for IHSS. As such, this brief includes our best understanding of the proposals as of March  16,  2026.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5166

The 2026-27 Budget: Community College Facilities

Mar 17, 2026 - These districts might be putting forth smaller local contributions in part because their projects can still qualify for funding based on other scoring metrics. When districts provide smaller local contributions, the available state bond funding cannot stretch across as many projects.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5159

The 2026-27 Budget: Department of Developmental Services

Mar 13, 2026 - The department stated that, although more time is still needed for planning and that a fully operational LOIS IT system is still a few years out, it intends to begin early preparations with RCs to make the eventual transition process smoother.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5157

California New Car Registrations: January 2026 [EconTax Blog]

Mar 11, 2026 - After growing just 0.3 percent from December to January, registrations are still 5 percent below the average level over the last couple of years. This multi-month slump could be a worrisome sign for California ’s short-term economic trajectory.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/article/Detail/853

California New Car Registrations: January 2026 [EconTax Blog]

Mar 11, 2026 - After growing just 0.3 percent from December to January, registrations are still 5 percent below the average level over the last couple of years. This multi-month slump could be a worrisome sign for California ’s short-term economic trajectory.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/853

The 2026-27 Budget: Contract to Achieve Operational Efficiencies

Mar 10, 2026 - Ultimately, while the level of savings achieved from these two control sections was significant, it still fell short of what was assumed in the budget. (We note that in addition to departmental budgetary savings noted above, Control Section 4.05 also reduced state General Fund expenditures at the university systems.) 2025-26 Budget Act Authorized Up to $20  Million for Contract
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5156

The 2026-27 Budget: California Highway Patrol Proposals

Mar 6, 2026 - As shown in Figure  2, the department ’s uniformed officer vacancy rate including temporary positions, is still well above the pre-pandemic levels. Specifically, while the vacancy rate was 2.8  percent in 2019, it then rose to over 9  percent in 2021, and remained at 6.6  percent as of 2024, per the most recent data available.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5152

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

Mar 5, 2026 - The value of lost eligibility and benefits to Medi ‑Cal and CalFresh enrollees is larger still. Addressing the structural budget problem will require difficult trade ‑offs. Backfilling lost federal benefits under H.R.  1 would require billions of dollars in additional budget solutions.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5149