COVID-19 and California’s Evolving Fiscal Outlook

Mar 18, 2020 - The extended tax filing due date —while justified —will further complicate the task of developing revised revenue estimates both for the current year and the 2020 ‑21 fiscal year. Given that it will take time to appraise the ultimate effects on the state, the Legislature may need to take incremental steps —like adopting a workload budget in the nearer term —to
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4203

The 2020-21 Budget: Proposition 2 Debt Payment Proposals [Publication Details]

Mar 10, 2020 - The Governor offers one strategy to prioritize these funds over the next few years. Notably, the Governor focuses on the state’s share of the unfunded liability for teachers’ pensions. While we agree this focus makes sense, the amounts the Governor proposes dedicating to this purpose are not connected to the specific actuarial needs of the teachers’ pension system.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/4196

The 2020-21 Budget: Proposition 2 Debt Payment Proposals

Mar 10, 2020 - In those intervening years, there would be a difference between the rate the state is paying and the rate the state would pay if the CalSTRS board had full rate setting authority. In dollar terms, this difference would very roughly equal $ 525  m illion in the first year, $ 350  m illion in the second year, and $ 175  m illion in the third year.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4196

Taking Stock of California’s Recession Readiness

Feb 12, 2020 - However, to the extent the Legislature instead preferred not to reduce funding levels —particularly for schools —in response to a revenue decline, larger reserves (or entering operating surpluses) are needed.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4156

The 2020-21 Budget: Structuring the Budget

Feb 10, 2020 - In addition, required General Fund spending on schools and community colleges —under the provisions of Proposition  98 (1988) —also usually declines when revenues do. If the Legislature does not wish to reduce school and community college spending in a recession, the budget problem would be larger than what we have described here, and more reserves would be required.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4150

The 2020-21 Budget: Structuring the Budget [Publication Details]

Feb 10, 2020 - California has made significant progress in recent years to make its budget more resilient. Yet the process of achieving resilience can never be considered finished. This report lays out a framework for evaluating the budget’s structure using two key tools: reserves and operating surpluses. Using this framework, we evaluate the Governor’s proposed 2020-21 budget structure.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/4150

The 2020-21 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget [Publication Details]

Jan 13, 2020 - The Governor allocates most of the surplus toward one-time purposes, including maintaining a positive year-end balance in the state’s discretionary reserve. Under the administration’s estimates, total reserves would reach $20.5 billion at the end of 2020-21—this represents a $1.7 billion increase from the 2019-20 enacted level.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/4135

The 2020-21 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 13, 2020 - Most notably, the Governor provides a combined $ 900  m illion for six programs aimed at improving school employee training, recruitment, and retention. The budget also provides $ 600  m illion for two new grant programs: (1) $ 300  m illion for grants to help low ‑performing schools and districts improve their performance and (2) $ 300  m illion for
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4135