The 2025-26 Budget: Department of Justice

Feb 19, 2025 - In contrast, counties and cities that use their own resources to support their labs —or those that decide they want to pay a private laboratory for testing —have a greater incentive to carefully prioritize what evidence should be tested and how quickly it should be done.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4972

Addressing Chronic Vacancies in Prison Mental Health Care

Feb 23, 2026 - Those departments may seek increases in compensation to ensure their pay remains competitive with CDCR —potentially adding still more costs to the state. Extending Licensing Exemptions to Out‑of‑State Licensed Providers State Licensing Policies Limit Pool of Potential Providers.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5134

Retail Theft in California: Looking Back at a Decade of Change

Jun 12, 2025 - Added Time for Certain Theft or Property Damage Felonies. Chapter  174 of 2024 (S B  1416 , Newman), Chapter  220 of 2024 (A B  1960 , Rivas), and Proposition  36 all added similar language to state law, which allows for increased sentences for people convicted of felonies in which the amount of property that was stolen or damaged is over $50,000,  with longer enhancement terms as the dollar amounts increase.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5055

The 2026-27 Budget: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Feb 23, 2026 - Adding More Licensing Exemptions for Those Who Work at Prisons. Currently, providers with out ‑of ‑state licenses are required to obtain a California license to work in CDCR, though some may use their out ‑of ‑state license on a temporary basis.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5137

Assessing Community College Programs at State Prisons

Jul 1, 2024 - Given that the results of the recommended data and studies have the potential to notably improve legislative decision ‑making on prison postsecondary education policy and programs moving forward, we believe the added administrative workload is warranted.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4913

The 2022-23 Budget: Department of Justice Proposals

Feb 11, 2022 - In contrast, counties and cities that use their own resources to support their labs —or those that decide they want to pay a private laboratory for testing —have greater incentive to carefully prioritize what evidence should be tested and how quickly it should be done.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4527

Overview and Update on the Prison Receivership

Nov 8, 2023 - An estimated $194  million was added to the state budget from 2002 ‑03 through 2006 ‑07 to address the problems identified in prison medical care. However, upon further review of the state ’s performance, the federal court found that the state had failed to comply with its orders.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4813

The 2021-22 Spending Plan: Judiciary and Criminal Justice

Oct 6, 2021 - .) $4  million one-time General Fund for grants to local law enforcement agencies to help ensure that sexual assault forensic evidence is submitted to crime labs for testing. Board of State and Community Corrections The budget provides $617  million for the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) in 2021 ‑ 22 —an increase of $172  million (39  percent) from the revised 2020 ‑21 level.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4460

The 2024-25 Budget: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Feb 22, 2024 - CDCR arrived at this estimate by adding the average expenditures on testing for staff between April 2023 and September 2023 and the prison population between April 2023 and August 2023 and assuming that the department would continue spending at that monthly rate in 2024‑25 and ongoing.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4852

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

Jan 13, 2022 - The COVID ‑19 pandemic exposed weaknesses in state and local public health systems —in staffing levels, expertise, lab capacity, and flexibility. Public health systems previously have been funded largely with categorical sources of funding —federal grants and state special funds —or one ‑time General Fund for specific purposes.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4492