The 2026-27 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

Nov 19, 2025 - The 2026-27 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook Executive Summary Not Safe to Bet Artificial Intelligence ( AI) Fueled Exuberance Is Sustainable. Both the California and U.S. economies currently face significant headwinds.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5091

The 2026-27 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 12, 2026 - As a result, we consider the entire balance of the SFEU to be a discretionary choice. That said, recent budgets have set the SFEU bet ween $3.5  billion and $4.5  billion, so the Governor ’s budget proposal to set the balance to $4.5  billion is generally in line with recent policy.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5101

The 2024-25 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 13, 2024 - As we explained in our report The 2024‑25 Budget: California’s Fiscal Outlook , these adjustments would not be automatic under current law—they would require proactive choices by the Legislature—and therefore we count them as policy choices.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4825

The 2025-26 Budget: Multiyear Budget Outlook

May 24, 2025 - The figure compares average annual program growth from 2025-26 to 2028-29 under two scenarios: our November Outlook (based on current law) and our May Outlook (reflecting May Revision policy choices).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5052

The 2025-26 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

Nov 20, 2024 - These choices included about $11  billion in spending ‑related solutions and $15  billion in all other solutions, including $5.5  billion in temporary revenue increases and a $7  billion withdrawal from the state ’s rainy ‑day fund .
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4939

The 2022-23 Budget: Multiyear Budget Outlook

May 24, 2022 - These recessions necessitated very difficult choices for the Legislature about how to cut spending to balance the budget. As  we have discussed previously , the Legislature has several tools to prepare for and use during a recession, which can help the state avoid or delay these difficult choices.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4602

California's Legislative Analyst's Office and the Value of Independence

Nov 15, 2024 - An independent assessment of the state ’s existing spending commitments helps equip the Legislature to consider the full scope of the fiscal choices before it —critical insight for the branch of government with constitutional authority over appropriations.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4938

The 2025-26 Budget: Initial Comments on the Governor's May Revision

May 17, 2025 - Absent Proactive Choices Last Year, Budget Problem Would Be Significantly Larger. In June 2024, the Legislature not only addressed the 2024 ‑25 budget problem, but also took proactive steps to mitigate the anticipated 2025 ‑26 budget challenge.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5044

The 2025-26 Budget: Undertaking Fiscal Oversight

Feb 24, 2025 - Meanwhile, revenue growth over the outlook window is just above 4  percent —this is lower than its historical average largely due to policy choices, namely the limitations on deductions and credits that end during the forecast window.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4983

The 2021-22 Budget: Initial Comments on the Governor’s May Revision

May 17, 2021 - More importantly, the Legislature ’s time to deliberate over choices made in this budget is extremely limited. We recommend the Legislature delay some of those decisions and offer options for doing so.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4432