The 2026-27 Budget: In-Home Supportive Services

Mar 18, 2026 - The 2017 IHSS MOE also increased annually by (1)  the counties ’ share of costs from locally negotiated wage increases and (2)  an annual adjustment factor (of as high as 7  percent). We note that when the 2017 IHSS MOE was initially implemented, there was concern that 1991 realignment —the revenue source used to cover IHSS county MOE costs —would no longer be able to fully cover IHSS county costs in the long term.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5166

The 2026-27 Budget: Child Welfare

Mar 3, 2026 - In addition to restructuring foster care maintenance payments, the 2024-25 statutory changes also added two new foster care programs and corresponding rate components: (1)  Strengths Building and Child and Family Determination Program, and (2)  Immediate Needs Program.
https://lao.ca.gov/publications/report/5147

The 2026-27 Budget: Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment (SSI/SSP) Program

Mar 3, 2026 - Since the Great Recession, as seen in Figure  2, grants for individuals and couples have been increased four times —in 2016-17 (by 2.76  percent), 2021-22 (by 23.95  percent), 2022-23 (by 10.3  percent), and 2023-24 (by 9.2  percent).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5148

The 2026-27 Budget: Food Assistance Programs

Feb 18, 2026 - Based on the state ’s most recently measured payment error rate of 11  percent, the state would have a 15  percent share of CalFresh benefit costs, resulting in about $2  billion in new annual costs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5126

The 2026-27 Budget: CalWORKs

Feb 18, 2026 - Similarly, $664  million in unspent TANF funds was estimated to be available in 2024-25. With $270  million in unspent TANF identified for 2025-26, the level of carried-over funding is decreasing. As already noted, the Governor ’s budget projects no unspent TANF available in 2026-27.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5122

Implementing California’s Child Welfare Prevention Services Program

Jan 28, 2026 - Initial trainings under Tier 3 have been provided, and DSS released guidance (via All‑County Letter 25‑73 ) in October 2025 with more detail about the specific training sessions and required participants for Tier 1.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5106

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

Mar 6, 2026 - Such an approach, though, would work at cross ‑purposes with the state ’s policy goals of (1)  reducing the number of places and times a developer must apply and (2)  no longer potentially having scenarios in which a project is approved by one state entity but rejected by another.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5154