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

Feb 23, 2026 - Our key findings and recommendations are: The state faces significant cannabis and tobacco compliance problems. Accordingly, we recommend that the Legislature approach the Governor ’s proposals not as one ‑time workload adjustments, but as components of a broader, more sustained effort to address these policy challenges.
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 2026-27 Budget: California Competes Extension

Mar 18, 2026 - Recommendations Approve Extension of California Competes. The program is conceptually well structured and has recent empirical evidence supporting the idea that the credit is leading to a net increase in jobs in the state.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5162

The 2025-26 Budget: Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development

Mar 18, 2025 - Recommendations Recommend Rejecting Proposal. In our comments above, we raise three significant concerns with the CHIPs proposal: The proposal ’s heavy dependence on federal funding makes its prospects uncertain.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5018

Updating the California Necessities Index

Aug 14, 2025 - Recommend Using National Estimate for Discontinued Category. Overall, we think that option C, which uses a national estimate instead of metropolitan area estimates for the household fuels and other utilities category, is best able to replicate the current CNI.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5065

Fixing Unemployment Insurance

Dec 2, 2024 - However, our recommendations are customized to California ’s unique UI system. We describe each of our recommendations below. Figure 11 Recommended Approach to Fix State ’s UI System Increase the Taxable Wage Base.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4943

The 2024-25 Budget: Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development

Feb 20, 2024 - We recommend rejecting both proposals. Background California Competes Provides Incentives to Attract Business Investment.   California Competes  is an economic development tax incentive program that allows GO-Biz to negotiate agreements to provide financial incentives to companies that agree to meet hiring and investment targets.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4846

Evaluation of a Tax Exemption for Zero-Emission Buses

Apr 15, 2024 - Recommendation Recommend Allowing Exemption to Expire. Due to the state ’s budget condition, any ongoing fiscal commitments should clear a very high bar of need. Based on the considerations discussed in this post, we doubt that the ZEB exemption clears this bar.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4890

The 2025-26 Budget: Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development [Publication Details]

Mar 18, 2025 - The Governor’s budget includes several proposals under the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). In this post we evaluate and provide recommendations for three of these proposals: California Competes Grants, California Regional Initiative for Social Enterprises Grant Program, and CHIPS.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5018

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

Feb 28, 2025 - Therefore, we recommend the Legislature consider adopting the Governor ’s proposal only if the Legislature views maintaining California ’s market share of the film industry as a high priority and an end in itself.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5000