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

The 2026-27 Budget: Food Assistance Programs

Feb 18, 2026 - This state share is only imposed on states that have a payment error rate of 6  percent or higher. As shown in Figure  1, the amount of the state share depends on how much the state ’s error rate exceeds 6  percent.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5126

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

Implementing California’s Child Welfare Prevention Services Program

Jan 28, 2026 - Figure   6 illustrates how many counties selected each EBP in their CPPs. Appendix  B provides a full list of which counties selected each  EBP. FFPS Provides Opportunity to Expand Existing Services to Child Welfare Populations With Federal Funding.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5106

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

Mar 6, 2026 - We find that designating the vast majority of private activity bonds for this purpose, as CDLAC has done, is consistent with good public policy given (1)  the state ’s priority to support more affordable housing and that (2)  doing so unlocks federal funding via the 4   percent tax credits.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5154

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: Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment (SSI/SSP) Program

Mar 3, 2026 - As shown in Figure  6, FMR takes up a significant portion or exceeds recipient grants in all counties. For an efficiency unit, FMRs are between 63  percent and 258  percent of the maximum SSI/SSP grant for individuals and between 42  percent and 157  percent of the maximum SSI/SSP grant for couples.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5148

The 2026-27 Budget: In-Home Supportive Services

Mar 18, 2026 - As shown in Figure  6 , the average monthly IHSS paid hours per case has increased by roughly 2  percent annually since 2014. The 2026 ‑27 budget projects the average monthly number of IHSS hours per case to increase from 125.1 hours in 2025 ‑26 to 127 hours in 2026 ‑27.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5166