Addressing Chronic Vacancies in Prison Mental Health Care

Feb 23, 2026 - According to 2023 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, California is the highest paying state for psychologists with the average hourly wage at $64 per hour, whereas psychologists nationwide earned a median of $53 per hour (21  percent less).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5134

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

Jun 12, 2025 - (For example, San Bernardino Sheriff ’s Department did not report crime data for seven months of 2023.) Accordingly, crime data may understate the actual increase in retail theft that occurred in 2023.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5055

The 2026-27 Budget: Estimated State Savings From Proposition 47

Feb 23, 2026 - DOF then modifies these estimates based on updated data as part of the May Revision. Some Provisions in Proposition  36 (2024) Reduce the State Savings Attributable to Proposition  47. Proposition  36, approved by the voters in November 2024, increased punishment for various drug and theft crimes.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5108

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

Assessing Community College Programs at State Prisons

Jul 1, 2024 - (As further context, the state does not provide the higher education segments with specific funding earmarks to complete their data collection requirements and facility utilization studies.) Given that the results of the recommended data and studies have the potential to notably improve legislative decision ‑making on prison postsecondary education policy and programs moving forward, we believe the added administrative workload is warranted.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4913

The 2025-26 Budget: Update on Implementation of New Firearm and Ammunition Tax

Feb 19, 2025 - This is because they are based on one quarter of preliminary data for 2024-25. These data, along with certain assumptions, are then used to estimate revenues in 2024-25 and 2025-26. Revised data for that quarter and new data for additional quarters will be available in the coming months, which will better refine the estimate.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4970

Overview and Update on the Prison Receivership

Nov 8, 2023 - An estimated $194  million was added to the state budget from 2002 ‑03 through 2006 ‑07 to address the problems identified in prison medical care. However, upon further review of the state ’s performance, the federal court found that the state had failed to comply with its orders.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4813

The 2025-26 Budget: Department of Justice

Feb 19, 2025 - For example, one potential funding option discussed in the report was to increase the specific fee added when individuals are convicted of criminal offenses which generates the revenue deposited into the DNA Identification Fund.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4972

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

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

Oct 24, 2025 - Figure 3 Summary of Total CARE Program Funding General Fund (In Millions) Training, Data Collection, and Other Activities 20.2 $91.4 $100.8 CARE = Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment; CalHHS = California Health and Human Services Agency; and DHCS = Department of Health Care Services.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5085