Addressing Chronic Vacancies in Prison Mental Health Care

Feb 23, 2026 - To ensure excess capacity does not accumulate in future years, we recommend directing CDCR to regularly seek adjustments to the inpatient mental health bed capacity based on the bed need study carried out biannually.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5134

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

Jun 12, 2025 - To determine whether these specific law changes —as opposed to other factors that can affect crime — cause retail theft to go down will likely require a relatively sophisticated academic study. Absent or until such a study is completed, monitoring rates of reported shoplifting and commercial burglary can still provide a helpful indication of whether crime is declining, regardless of cause.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5055

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

Oct 24, 2025 - For example, the legislation allows proceeds of sales of CDCR properties to be used for activities —such as demolition, abatement, or conducting due diligence studies —intended to improve the likelihood of successful redevelopment.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5085

MOU Fiscal Analysis: Bargaining Unit 6 (Corrections)

Sep 7, 2023 - The administration states that it will use the same methodology in future Unit  6 compensations studies that it used for the 2022 compensations study. LAO Assessment 2018 Compensation Study Disagree That 2018 Compensation Study Is Confidential Under CPRA.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4800

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 2022-23 Budget: Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training

Jan 31, 2022 - For example, studies have noted significant rates of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among peace officers with at least one study finding a correlation between PTSD and excessive use of force. Governor ’s Proposal Funding for New Officer Wellness Program.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4507

Promoting Equity in the Parole Hearing Process

Jan 5, 2023 - In addition, we recommend that the Legislature require BPH to release public data on outcomes by subgroups as well as support periodic quantitative a nd qualitative studies of the parole process by independent researchers.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4658

Assessing the Provision of Criminal Indigent Defense

Sep 22, 2022 - For  example, a time ‑study in Virginia recommended annual caseloads not exceed 45  non ‑capital murder or homicide cases, 145  violent felony cases, 257 nonviolent felony cases, and 757  misdemeanor  cases.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4623

The 2023-24 Budget: Office of the State Public Defender

Feb 15, 2023 - DEI expertise typically involves conceptual and technical expertise developed over time through research or study as well as experience. For example, DEI experts frequently have a historical and current understanding of race-related concepts, the impacts specific policies have had in particular policy areas (such as housing) over time, and behavioral theory used to overcome pr evailing institutional and organizational DEI barriers.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4680

The California State Bar: Assessment of Proposed Disciplinary Case Processing Standards

Jan 6, 2023 - Accordingly, the resulting study may suffer which could lead to both too many resources or too few resources being identified as being needed —and potentially provided —to support OCTC workload. Difficult to Assess Impact of Additional Positions Funded in 2019.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4655