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

The 2026-27 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

Nov 19, 2025 - For California, the dot ‑com era —when stocks rose and then fell precipitously in response to widespread adoption of the internet —offers the most salient example. The internet has proven to be a transformative technology and, yet, the stock market ’s initial reaction was clearly overly exuberant.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5091

Whether or Not to Tap Reserves to Solve Estimated Budget Problem Emerges as Key Fiscal Decision Facing California’s Legislature

Apr 19, 2023 - Other downturns, such as the 2001 so-called dot-com recession, had severe fiscal implications while inflicting somewhat milder economic damage. The 2008 Great Recession had brutal effects on both the state ’s economy and budget.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4762

Rethinking California's Reserve Policy

Apr 10, 2025 - In March of 2004, on the heels of the dot ‑com bust, voters passed Proposition  58, which created the Budget Stabilization Account (BSA). In the 2006 ‑07 budget, the Legislature deposited $472  million into the BSA and in 2007 ‑08 deposited $1.5  billion.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5028

The 2023-24 Budget: Multiyear Assessment

Feb 15, 2023 - Three of those —the recession in the early 1990s, the dot ‑com bust in the early 2000s, and the Great Recession —resulted in large revenue shortfalls and ensuing multiyear deficits, even for some years after each recession ended.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4687

The 2025-26 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

Nov 20, 2024 - Outside of government and health care, the state has added no jobs in a year and a half. Similarly, the number of Californians who are unemployed is 25  percent higher than during the strong labor markets of 2019 and 2022.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4939

The 2025-26 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 13, 2025 - These gains are not tied to improvements in the state ’s broader economy, which has been lackluster, with elevated unemployment, a stagnant job market outside of government and healthcare, and sluggish consumer spending.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4951

The 2024-25 Budget: Overview of the Spending Plan

Sep 6, 2024 - (The budget package also reduces $96   million in General Fund that had been provided outside of the transportation infrastructure package for projects at the Port of Oakland.) The spending plan includes additional changes to transportation expenditures that do not affect planned funding totals.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4922

The 2024-25 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions

Oct 2, 2024 - The budget package also modifies some CDFA funding that was provided outside of those thematic packages in prior years. Specifically, the spending plan (1)  reduces General Fund resources for fairground and community resilience grants by $2.1  million and (2)  delays $23  million in General Fund resources for enteric methane reduction incentives from 2023-24 to 2026-27.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4934

The 2024-25 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions

Oct 2, 2024 - The budget package also modifies some CDFA funding that was provided outside of those thematic packages in prior years. Specifically, the spending plan (1)  reduces General Fund resources for fairground and community resilience grants by $2.1  million and (2)  delays $23  million in General Fund resources for enteric methane reduction incentives from 2023-24 to 2026-27.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4934/governors-office-of-emergency-services