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

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

Feb 10, 2026 - Instead, the statute references setting aside funding for them prior to computing allotments for Tier  3  funding. Funding Proposals From State Operations Has Implications for Money Left Available for Other Tiers.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5114

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

Feb 17, 2026 - (We refer to these as “environmental positions. ”) By contrast, as shown in Figure  2, environmental positions comprised a majority of the residual positions reviewed by the Legislature (565 of 1,009) and of the positions the Legislature did not agree to eliminate (349 of 650).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5124

The 2026-27 Budget: Proposed Zero-Emission Vehicle Incentive

Feb 24, 2026 - The administration has not yet determined the extent to which this new proposed program could be used in combination with other existing programs (sometimes referred to as “stacking ”). However, given the number of existing programs and policies aimed at incentivizing ZEVs, a potential for duplication exists, which would create challenges.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5140

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

Mar 2, 2026 - Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) establishes national standards and delegates authority to SWRCB and its nine regional water boards (collectively referred to as the water boards) to administer federal permitting programs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5144