Addressing Chronic Vacancies in Prison Mental Health Care

Feb 23, 2026 - Those departments may seek increases in compensation to ensure their pay remains competitive with CDCR —potentially adding still more costs to the state. Extending Licensing Exemptions to Out‑of‑State Licensed Providers State Licensing Policies Limit Pool of Potential Providers.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5134

The 2026-27 Budget: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Feb 23, 2026 - Adding More Licensing Exemptions for Those Who Work at Prisons. Currently, providers with out ‑of ‑state licenses are required to obtain a California license to work in CDCR, though some may use their out ‑of ‑state license on a temporary basis.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5137

Retail Theft in California: Looking Back at a Decade of Change

Jun 12, 2025 - For example, since incarceration can be relatively costly for the state or local governments, research suggests that adding time to felony jail or prison sentences is generally less likely to be cost effective than interventions that increase the likelihood of apprehension, such as increasing police presence.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5055

The 2026-27 Budget: Department of Justice

Feb 11, 2026 - It also directs DOJ require licensed firearms dealers charge a fee of up to $5 per check (not to exceed actual processing costs). This fee may be increased annually by up to $1, but may not exceed actual costs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5118

The 2026-27 Budget: Judicial Branch

Feb 11, 2026 - The estimated costs of these 17 projects increased to around $14  billion. Similarly, while most of the remaining projects on the 2019 list have not been reassessed, the costs of projects in other parts of the state are likely increasing.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5113

The 2025-26 Budget: Department of Justice

Feb 19, 2025 - The department identified the following options to support BFS operations: (1)  a  general tax increase, (2)  allowing the surcharge added to criminal history background check fees to also cover BFS costs (and adjusting the surcharge accordingly), (3)  increasing the specific fee added when individuals are convicted of criminal offenses which
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4972

The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Judiciary and Criminal Justice

Oct 24, 2025 - This change reflects the restructuring of funding for the office in which  72  percent of OGC costs will be distributed across the entire department —consistent with how DOJ currently distributes its general administration costs —and a greater share of its costs will be supported by various special funds.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5085

Assessing Community College Programs at State Prisons

Jul 1, 2024 - New Administrative Workload Likely Comes With Little Added Cost. Taken together, these recommendations would place some new administrative requirements on CCC and CDCR. Both agencies, however, likely could accommodate the minor additional workload and minor associated costs within their existing budgets.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4913

The 2024-25 Budget: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Feb 22, 2024 - CDCR arrived at this estimate by adding the average expenditures on testing for staff between April 2023 and September 2023 and the prison population between April 2023 and August 2023 and assuming that the department would continue spending at that monthly rate in 2024‑25 and ongoing.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4852

Overview and Update on the Prison Receivership

Nov 8, 2023 - (The pharmaceutical budget reflects only the cost of pharmaceuticals and not the cost of medication management or administration.) The level of inflation ‑adjusted spending on pharmaceuticals per  person also increased over this time period from $1,300 in 2004 ‑05 to $3,200 (more than double) by 2021 ‑22.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4813