The 2025-26 Budget: Governor’s Office of Service and Community Engagement

Mar 11, 2025 - Of the proposed $84  million ongoing for the program in 2026-27, California Volunteers estimates that $45  million would be used for administrative costs (rather than direct student financial aid). Of the $45  million, about half would be for administrative costs at the state level (through California Volunteers) and half would be for administrative costs at the campus level.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5015

The 2025-26 Budget: The California State Payroll System IT Project

Mar 7, 2025 - Over the past 45 days, the JLBC has reviewed the requested allocation alongside the most current project documentation, gathering some of the information shared in this post. This post, however, does not raise any concerns with the requested $10.4  million.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5011

The 2026-27 Budget: California Highway Patrol Proposals

Mar 6, 2026 - Assessment Concerning MVA Condition Raises the Bar for Approving New Spending. Despite the MVA ’s projected near-term stable condition, the account ’s surplus margins remain slim and the administration estimates it will become insolvent in 2028-29.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5152

The 2026-27 Budget: Office of Emergency Services Next Generation 911 System

Feb 27, 2026 - Will New Plan Solve the Problem? What evidence is there showing that the transition to a statewide approach will solve the problems identified above or problems that lead OES to propose abandoning the regional approach?
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5145

The 2025-26 Budget: CDTFA’s Tobacco Programs

Feb 14, 2025 - This fee-funded program is a key element of the Master Settlement Agreement that California and 45 other states reached with the four largest cigarette manufacturers in 1998. The California Electronic Cigarette Excise Tax Program administers a 12.5  percent tax on retail sales of e-cigarettes.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4966

The 2021-22 Budget: Improving Legislative Oversight of Emergency Spending Authorities

Mar 2, 2021 - Reject Proposed Flexibility to Spend Federal and Private Funds We recommend rejecting the second component of Control Section 11. 91 t hat would allow the administration to spend new federal or private funds without legislative approval or notification.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4393

Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Program Review

Dec 2, 2025 - New York —The Service ‑Disabled Veteran ‑Owned Business program participation goal in New York is set at 6  percent. Washington —In Washington, state agencies have been charged with meeting a 5  percent veteran ‑owned business participation goal overall.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5095

The 2026-27 Budget: Contract to Achieve Operational Efficiencies

Mar 10, 2026 - The 2025-26 budget included up to $20  million for DOF to enter into one or more new contracts to implement process improvements that allow the state to reduce costs. In June 2025, the administration estimated that this endeavor would result in annual General Fund savings of $500  million in 2025-26, growing to roughly $2  billion General Fund annually by 2028-29.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5156

The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions

Oct 16, 2025 - New and Ongoing Efforts to Achieve Efficiencies Department of Finance (DOF) Contract to Implement Operational Improvements. The 2025-26 budget package includes up to $20  million for DOF to enter into one or more new contracts to implement operational improvements that allow the state to reduce state operations expenditures.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5081

The 2025-26 Budget: Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development

Mar 18, 2025 - The program only requires that the applicant has not received a California Competes tax credit for the same jobs or investment for which the grant is sough t. The determination of suitability for the grant is done alongside a more general evaluation of the application by the California Competes staff.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5018