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

Mar 18, 2026 - While VAs can result from litigation, they differ from regular court orders or traditional top ‑down regulations in that the affected parties negotiate a settlement to try to achieve agreed ‑upon objectives.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5163

How Have Past Stock Market Downturns Affected Income Tax Revenue? [EconTax Blog]

Mar 9, 2026 - By most measures, the global financial crisis was more severe than the dot-com crash. The state 's unemployment rate, for example, peaked at 7 percent following the dot-com crash but reached nearly double that during the financial crisis and remained elevated for much longer.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/852

How Have Past Stock Market Downturns Affected Income Tax Revenue? [EconTax Blog]

Mar 9, 2026 - By most measures, the global financial crisis was more severe than the dot-com crash. The state 's unemployment rate, for example, peaked at 7 percent following the dot-com crash but reached nearly double that during the financial crisis and remained elevated for much longer.
https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/article/Detail/852

The 2026-27 Budget: California Community Colleges

Mar 5, 2026 - The Legislature has historically made this a top CCC  budget priority because it helps districts address increases in their core operating costs and, in turn, maintain the quality of their instructional programs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5150

The 2026-27 Budget: California Student Aid Commission

Feb 17, 2026 - This income level equates to roughly the top 90th percentile of households in California (meaning only about one in ten households makes above that level). Lastly, under the revamped program, students at private universities remain ineligible for MCS awards.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5127

The 2026-27 Budget: Cap-and-Invest Expenditure Plan

Feb 10, 2026 - By including funding for state operations in Tier 1, they are taken “off the top ” before allocations are computed for nearly all other activities. The main implication of this approach is that any activities that are added to this category essentially result in less funding available to support programs in other tiers and a greater likelihood that Tier 3 programs may not receive their full statutory allotments.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5114

The 2026-27 Budget: Higher Education Overview

Feb 5, 2026 - Consistent with historical legislative practice, as well as current practice for CCC, we recommend the Legislature fund enrollment growth at CSU and UC apart from and on top of any base increase, as doing so provides greater transparency and accountability.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5112

California’s Strong Revenue Trends Mask Looming Budget Risk

Jan 23, 2026 - After the dot-com bust and the Great Recession, it took four and five years, respectively, for revenues to recover. Incorporating revenue risk into the budget now, therefore, reflects prudence, not pessimism.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5104

Oversight of certain public benefit artificial intelligence (AI) companies. [Ballot]

Jan 20, 2026 - The measure would have the following major fiscal effects: Increased state costs that would likely be in the tens of millions of dollars annually to establish and operate a new regulatory commission overseeing certain public benefit AI com panies.
https://lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Initiative/2025-033