The 2026-27 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

Nov 19, 2025 - This  is not a prediction of what will happen —state and federal laws and policies will change in the coming years —but rather serves as a baseline to help the Legislature understand its starting place.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5091

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

Jan 12, 2026 - 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

California’s Strong Revenue Trends Mask Looming Budget Risk

Jan 23, 2026 - Rather, the issue is whether a wait-and-see approach suffices or whether this long-standing risk to California ’s finances should be incorporated into the state ’s budget assumptions from the start. Unpacking this question calls for revisiting what is driving the state ’s current revenue boom.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5104

The 2025-26 Budget: Multiyear Budget Outlook

May 24, 2025 - As a result, if the Legislature were to use our estimates as a starting point, it would need to identify somewhat fewer solutions to balance the budget. Both Our Office and the Administration Forecast Persistent Future Deficits.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5052

The 2025-26 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

Nov 20, 2024 - This is not a prediction of what will happen —state and federal laws and policies will change in the coming years —but rather serves as a baseline to help the Legislature understand its starting place.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4939

The 2024-25 Budget: Multiyear Budget Outlook

May 23, 2024 - (Both our office and the administration assume, however, out-year costs associated with the repayments on the Proposition  98 maneuver, which contribute to nearly $2  billion in higher costs each year starting in 2025 ‑26.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4907

The 2022-23 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions

Sep 27, 2022 - Project Funding to Finish Planning and Start Initial Development and Implementation. The spending plan provides SCO $98.2  million General Fund and 35 positions (32 permanent positions and three limited-term positions) in 2022-23 to complete project planning through CDT ’s PAL process and start project development and implementation.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4626

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

Nov 15, 2024 - While our assessment provides the Legislature a starting point for deliberation, the administration ’s assessment integrates the Governor ’s proposals. As such, our independent fiscal assessment underlies the Legislature ’s ability to assert an informed check on the executive branch, making any added complexity from diverging estimates a worthwhile trade-off.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4938

Strong Tax Collections Belie California's Challenging Fiscal Outlook

Apr 26, 2022 - A good place to start would be applying close scrutiny to the Governor ’s spending proposals. Overall, the Governor ’s budget plan is not a fiscally sustainable starting point considering that the Department of Finance estimates that ending balances in the state ’s discretionary reserve would turn negative from 2023-24 through 2025-26.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4590

The 2024-25 Budget: Deficit Update

Feb 20, 2024 - We recommend the Legislature start by reviewing whether recent augmentations for one-time and temporary spending could be pulled back or reduced. We recommend this approach for two key reasons. First, when this one-time and temporary spending was adopted, it was understood that doing so would pr ovide a cushion for future budget problems.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4850