The 2025-26 Budget: State Mandate—Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board

May 5, 2025 - Be low, we discuss the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board ’s (regional board ’s) municipal stormwater permit for local governments in Orange County for the June 1, 2009 through December 21, 2017 period.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5039

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

Mar 2, 2026 - Supreme Court decision — Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ( Sackett ) —narrowed the definition of WOTUS. The ruling limits federal jurisdiction to relatively permanent bodies of water and to wetlands that have a continuous surface connection to WOTUS.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5144

The 2026-27 Budget: Proposition 4 Spending Plan

Feb 10, 2026 - As shown in Figure  1 , the Governor proposes appropriating $2.1  billion (about 21  percent of the total authorized by Proposition  4) in 2026 ‑27, including $792  million for water ‑related programs and $326  million for clean energy programs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5115

The 2026-27 Budget: Framework for Approaching the Natural Resources, Environmental Protection, and Agriculture Budget

Feb 10, 2026 - That decision ( Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ) narrowed federal Clean Water Act protections, thereby indirectly shifting regulatory responsibilities for certain bodies of water to the state under state law.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5116

The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions

Oct 16, 2025 - State Employee Compensation Legislature Ratified New Agreements With All 21 Bargaining Units. Chapter 5 of 2025 (AB 102, Gabriel) amended the budget to include Control Section 3.90, which established an expectation that the administration would meet and confer in good faith with all 21 of the state’s bargaining units before July 1, 2025 to achieve budgetary savings.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5081/

The 2022-23 Budget: Municipal Stormwater and Urban Runoff Discharges Mandate

Feb 28, 2022 - Despite the general federal direction to the state water boards to reduce the discharge of pollutants, however, courts have found that specific permit conditions required by the boards but not explicitly stated in federal law can be state ‑reimbursable mandates ( Department of Finance v.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4565

Frequently Asked Questions About Wildfires in California

Jan 28, 2025 -  $4 million in 2020 ‑21, increasing to $8 million and 24 positions thereafter to implement FireSIM and FireCAST wildfire forecasting technologies. CalFire, OES, CMD, and   CPUC —Wildfire  Threat Assessment
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4952

The 2024-25 California Spending Plan: Resources and Environmental Protection

Sep 12, 2024 - After accounting for these modifications —along with those made in 2023 ‑24 —the budget retains $2.6  billion for these activities across an eight-year period (from 2020 ‑21 through 2027 ‑28), which is 93  percent of the multiyear amount originally planned.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4928

The 2025-26 Budget: Natural Resources and Agriculture Discretionary Spending Proposals

Feb 18, 2025 - The program was first established with $8.5  million from the General Fund in 2020 ‑21, with subsequent budget packages providing General Fund appropriations of $30  million in 2021 ‑22 and $60  million in 2022 ‑ 23 —all provided on a one ‑time basis.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4967

The 2021-22 Spending Plan: Natural Resources and Environmental Protection

Oct 18, 2021 - This total is a net decrease of $318  million, or 11  percent, from the estimated 2020 ‑21 level. This decrease is primarily due to one-time increases in Emergency Fund expenditures in 2020 ‑ 21 —totaling $1.1  billion after anticipated federal reimbursements —as a result of large wildfires in 2020.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4463