Local Sales Tax Rebates in 2023-24

Sep 16, 2025 - Next, we examine some economic and demographic features of two groups of jurisdictions: (1)  those whose 2023-24 rebate payments totaled $1 to $20 per resident, and (2)  those whose rebate payments totaled more than $20 per resident.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5074

Fixing Unemployment Insurance

Dec 2, 2024 - Our assessment, which examines many potential future paths for the state ’s economy, similarly finds deficits are very likely to persist regardless of the trajectory of the economy, with an average outcome yielding deficits of around $2  billion per year for the next five years.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4943

Local Sales Tax Rebates in 2023-24 [Publication Details]

Sep 16, 2025 - Some of California's local governments offer partial sales tax rebates to try to boost the amount of taxable sales within their borders. In 2023-24, these rebates totaled $140 million. In this post, we describe the distribution of rebate payments across cities and counties. We also examine some economic and demographic characteristics of rebate-paying jurisdictions.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5074

California’s Low-Wage Workers and Minimum Wage

Mar 11, 2024 - Recognizing that California, in practice, contains many smaller labor markets, we also examine regional variation in wages. Other Aspects of Minimum Wages. This post is not a comprehensive evaluation of the statewide minimum wage.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4878/3

California’s Low-Wage Workers and Minimum Wage

Mar 11, 2024 - (We further examine housing affordability for minimum-wage workers in another post .) Most Low-Wage Workers Have No Minor Children. Figure  3 shows that most low-wage workers live in households without any children under 18.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4878/1

California’s Low-Wage Workers and Minimum Wage

Mar 11, 2024 - To examine these issues, we use the OEWS. We limit our use of the OEWS to these cases because OEWS microdata are not publicly available and because the wage measurements are less p recise than those in the CPS.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4878/4

The 2023-24 Budget: California's Film Tax Credit

Feb 28, 2023 - Dozens of studies over the last two decades have examined the economic effects of film tax credits in California and other states. These studies have used a variety of methods and reached varying conclusions.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4713

The 2023-24 Budget: Considering Inflation's Effects on State Programs

Nov 16, 2022 - This brief takes a case study approach to examine how elevated inflation has already impacted—and could continue to impact—state spending programs. Consequently, while this analysis covers a large share of the budget, it is not comprehensive.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4647

The 2022-23 Budget: Supply Chain and Port Infrastructure Proposals

Feb 15, 2022 - The Governor ’s budget includes $6  million from the General Fund in 2022 ‑23 for DMV to fund overtime for 200 Licensing Registration Examiners, as well as the necessary office and support staff, so that field offices with wait times of 30 days or more for commercial drive tests can offer additional testing slots on Saturdays.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4540

Evaluating State Economic Stimulus Proposals

Feb 1, 2021 - Assessing the timing of new stimulus spending may be possible by examining similar investments made in the past. Increasing funding for existing programs could more quickly provide economic benefits than creating a new program.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4331