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 - 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

Rethinking California's Reserve Policy

Apr 10, 2025 - This strategy avoids forcing the state to save more in years when the budget position is positive, but more marginal. In these years, saving more money might come at the expense of high‑priority legislative goals.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5028

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

May 17, 2021 - (We also include links to Appendix tables at the end of this post and the top left of this page. These appendix tables itemize select proposals by policy area based on our understanding at this time.)
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4432

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

Jan 13, 2024 - (The Legislature also can withdraw the entire “discretionary” balance of the BSA at any time, which are amounts that were deposited into the fund on top of Proposition 2 requirements.) The Governor proposes withdrawing half of the BSA’s constitutional balance, $10.2 billion, and the entire discretionary balance, $1.8 billion.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4825

The 2024-25 Budget: Initial Comments on the Governor’s May Revision

May 17, 2024 - (The Legislature also can withdraw the entire “discretionary ” balance of the BSA at any time, which are amounts that were deposited into the fund on top of Proposition  2 requirements.) In the May Revision, the Governor proposes withdrawing about $3  billion from the BSA —significantly less than the roughly $12  billion withdrawal proposed in January.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4902

Strong Tax Collections Belie California's Challenging Fiscal Outlook

Apr 26, 2022 - This means the proposal should address a well-defined problem with a policy strategy that has been evaluated and found to be cost-effective. Second, we suggest giving priority to proposals that mitigate future budget problems.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4590

The 2022-23 Budget: Fiscal Outlook for Schools and Community Colleges

Nov 17, 2021 - The  top of Figure 10 shows how funding and costs change over the period under our main forecast. The lighter shaded area represents the amount available for new commitments, assuming no changes to current law or policy.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4473

The 2021-22 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 10, 2021 - As we have said previously, a clear, long-term strategy would make it more likely that the state ’s investments would have a meaningful ongoing impact on its housing and homelessness challenges. In addition, several of the Governor ’s proposals focus on the acquisitions and rehabilitation of properties using one-time resources.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4309

The 2022-23 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 13, 2022 - For example, if a segment failed to close a student equity gap as planned, it could be required to report on the strategies it had implemented to date, how it would change those strategies moving forward, and how it would reallocate existing resources.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4492