The 2026-27 Budget: California Competes Extension

Mar 18, 2026 - Agreements last for five years, by which time all employment and investment milestones must be achieved to claim the full credit amount. In addition, these milestones must be maintained for a further three years.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5162

The 2026-27 Budget: CDTFA’s Cannabis and Tobacco Programs

Feb 23, 2026 - As the Legislature weighs these trade ‑offs, it also must consider a related question: which taxes and fees should support each program? We turn to this in the next section. How Should the State Pay for These Programs?
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5132

The 2026-27 Budget: State Mandate—Disclosure Requirements and Deferral of Property Taxation

Feb 19, 2026 - LAO Comments Repeal Ongoing Aspect of Mandate by Eliminating Printing Requirement … We recommend the Legislature remove the disclosure requirement in Chapter  712, which would have the effect of repealing the mandate (and mandate costs) going forward.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5130

The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions

Oct 16, 2025 - The budget permanently shifts DCC costs for illicit enforcement activities and the California Track-and-Trace program from the Cannabis Control Fund (CCF) —which receives revenues from fees paid by cannabis businesses —to the Cannabis Tax Fund (CTF) —which receives revenues from cannabis sales taxes.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5081

Updating the California Necessities Index

Aug 14, 2025 - Finally, option D, which does not use data on specific categories of goods, is likely the most immune from future publication changes. Option C faces the most risk because it relies not just on statistics for specific categories but also on a national estimate for a category for which the BLS has signaled difficulty obtaining reliable data; however, we believe that this risk is not significantly higher than for options A and B.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5065

Local Sales Tax Rebates in 2023-24

Sep 16, 2025 - Bradley-Burns revenue generally goes to the location a retailer designates as the “place of sale, ” which can differ from where the product is actually delivered to the customer, such as often occurs with online purchases.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5074

Updating the California Necessities Index [Publication Details]

Aug 14, 2025 - Recent changes were made to the publication of statistics required to calculate the California Necessities Index, which is used to adjust certain benefit rates and cost-of-living adjustments. In this brief, we provide details on the changes and evaluate alternatives for the index that require only currently available data and conform to the original intent of the index.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5065

Overview of Diversity Efforts in the Film Tax Credit Program

May 1, 2025 - Finally, while not explicitly mentioning diversity, the Pilot Career Pathways Training Program, which provides training and pathways into relevant employment, is stated to target individuals from underserved communities.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5036

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

Feb 19, 2025 - Accordingly, the Governor ’s budget reflects an appropriation of $55.1  million in 2024-25 and $57.2  million in 2025-26 to CalVIP —the first priority, which is entitled to a total annual appropriation of $75  million.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4970

The 2025-26 Budget: California’s Film Tax Credit

Feb 28, 2025 - Two notable events account for the volatility seen in Figure  3, namely COVID ‑19 and the 2023 SAG ‑AFTRA and Writer ’s Guild of America strikes, which coincide with the sharp decreases observed in 2020 and 2023 respectively.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5000