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

Feb 23, 2026 - Department ‑Level Perspective. The administration appears to have approached this issue by trying to “work within CDTFA ’s budget. ” Viewed through this department ‑level lens, one could argue that spending General Fund on the Cannabis Tax Program makes sense.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5132

The 2026-27 Budget: State Mandate—Disclosure Requirements and Deferral of Property Taxation

Feb 19, 2026 - The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local governments when (1)  new state laws or regulations mandate that they implement a new program or higher level of service and (2)  the local government does not have offsetting revenues available to fully cover the associated costs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5130

Fixing Unemployment Insurance

Dec 2, 2024 - During the phase ‑in period, the state also entered the dot ‑com recession. These two cost pressures absorbed the remaining flexibility in the state ’s UI tax system. As  shown in Figure  4 , the state began this period in Schedule C but quickly moved to Schedule F+, the highest tax schedule, where it has remained since.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4943

The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions

Oct 16, 2025 - This is a net increase of $5  million (3  percent) over the revised 2024-25 level. (This does not reflect some adjustments related to Control Sections 4.05 and 4.12 of the 2024-25 and 2025-26 budgets.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5081/

Updating the California Necessities Index

Aug 14, 2025 - Small Category Statistics Could Be Unreliable, Even at National Level. While it is easier for the BLS to estimate price changes for specific categories of goods at the national level, statistics for certain categories of goods and services could also be difficult to calculate reliably at the national level.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5065

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

Feb 28, 2025 - The COVID ‑19 effect was short ‑lived and shoot days returned to pre ‑pandemic levels in 2021. In contrast, filming activity following the strikes has shown no signs of recovering so far, with shoot days slightly declining further in 2024.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5000

California’s Low-Wage Workers and Minimum Wage

Mar 11, 2024 - Census Bureau ’s official poverty measure, and (2)  county-level housing cost estimates from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In Most Cases, Minimum Wage at Least Double the Poverty Level.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4878/3

The 2025-26 Budget: Update on Implementation of New Firearm and Ammunition Tax

Feb 19, 2025 - Specifically, lowering the amounts provided to particular programs could increase the likelihood that more of the programs listed in Chapter  231 receive some level of funding. For example, the 2024-25 budget eliminated $9  million in General Fund support for CalVIP beginning in 2025-26 due to the anticipation of GVPSS Fund monies being available to support the program instead.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4970

California’s Low-Wage Workers and Minimum Wage

Mar 11, 2024 - Cohort-Level Mobility Over Time. In the second approach, we use CPS data from 2002 through 2023 to track the how the rate of low-wage work changes over time for cohorts of workers born in the same year.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4878/2

The 2023-24 Budget: Multiyear Budget Outlook

May 23, 2023 - Our analysis suggests that level of revenue is very unlikely —there is less than a one ‑in ‑six chance the state can afford the May Revision spending level across the five ‑year period. This means that, if the Legislature adopts the Governor ’s May Revision proposals, the state very likely will face more budget problems over the next few years.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4772