The 2025-26 Budget: State Mandate—Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board

May 5, 2025 - Because the California Constitution does not require the state to reimburse local governments for costs to comply with federal law, disagreements have arisen over the years about whether all of the requirements in a given water quality permit are specifically required by federal law or whether they impose ad ditional requirements from the state.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5039

Climate Change Impacts Across California - Crosscutting Issues

Apr 5, 2022 - One key question will be what role state programs and policies can and should play in adapting to climate change, including how they interact with local adaptation activities, and how they should be funded.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4575

Climate Change Impacts Across California - Housing

Apr 5, 2022 - What should the state ’s role be in helping mitigate risks to existing housing? What should the state ’s role be in encouraging community ‑level efforts to mitigate climate change impacts on housing?
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4584

An Initial Look at Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Local Government Fiscal Condition

May 12, 2021 - First, there remains uncertainty about what costs will be eligible for FEMA reimbursement. Second, how much funding in total will be made available to states for COVID ‑19 ‑related reimbursements is unknown.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4428

The 2024-25 Budget: Juvenile Custodial Interrogation Mandate

May 28, 2024 - Unknown What Effects Legal Counsel at This Stage Has. In our review, we did not identify robust research on the effects of providing youths with legal counsel before the waiver of Miranda rights or interrogations.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4910

The 2022-23 Budget: The Governor’s Homelessness Plan

Feb 9, 2022 - These outstanding details concerned (1)  the funding plan, (2)  what requirements local entities would need to meet to apply for and obtain funds, and (3)  what the ultimate match requirement from local entities would be.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4521

The 2022-23 Budget: The Governor's Housing Plan

Feb 14, 2022 - For instance, (1)  what were the challenges and successes in standing up some of the newer programs, such as the State Excess Sites Program and the Portfolio Reinvestment Program; (2)  what are the demonstrated  program successes and/or are there opportunities for improving these programs; (3)  are there capacity constraints that are limiting the effectiveness of
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4535

How Has COVID-19 Affected Renters and Homeowners?

Jan 19, 2021 - We hope that by shedding light on how COVID ‑19 has added to the financial stress of renters, we can inform policy solutions to help renters through this crisis. In particular, the state and local governments will soon have to determine how to allocate recently authorized federal funding for emergency rental assistance.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4312