Assessing California’s Climate Policies—Residential Electricity Rates in California

Jan 7, 2025 - This is because when solar customers do not pay for fixed costs (as generally was the case with NEM 1.0 and NEM 2.0), the costs do not go away. Instead, those fixed costs typically must be built into the volumetric electricity r ates that are paid by other (non ‑solar) customers.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4950

Assessing California’s Climate Policies—Cap-and-Trade Reauthorization

May 7, 2025 - As a result, in concept, the decision about who gets the allowances essentially determines where the revenue from the charges paid by emitters will go, including which entities will receive these revenues and for what purposes.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5042

The 2025-26 Budget: May Revision Trailer Bill Proposals on the Delta Conveyance Project and Water Quality Control Plans

May 27, 2025 - Making some changes to requirements around how DWR must repay other state agencies that do work on the SWP (Section 5) . Explicitly including the DCP as part of the SWP. This would allow DWR to pay for the project in the same way that it has paid for other SWP facilities, that is, by issuing revenue bonds which then would be required to be repaid by contracting SWP water agencies.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5053

The 2022-23 Budget: Clean Energy Package

Feb 22, 2022 - Many of state ’s clean energy programs historically have been paid for by IOU ratepayers through higher electricity rates, even though some of the primary goals of these programs (such as GHG reductions) accrue to the broader public.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4554

The 2024-25 Budget: Insolvency Risks for Environmental and Transportation Special Funds

Feb 27, 2024 - Additionally, when certain special funds are facing deficits, the state has used the General Fund to cover some costs that the funds might otherwise have paid. For instance, in 2021 ‑22 and 2022 ‑23, the state used General Fund rather than MVA to pay for office replacements at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and CHP.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4858

The 2026-27 Budget: Proposed Elimination of State Environmental Positions

Feb 17, 2026 - As such, reducing positions and expenditures could mean that funds —at least in the near term —end up sitting unused in account balances rather than supporting the activities that fee-payers have paid the state to undertake.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5124

The 2026-27 Budget: Cap-and-Invest Expenditure Plan

Feb 10, 2026 - Given the continued uncertainty around cap ‑and ‑invest revenues, we recommend the Legislature closely monitor upcoming quarterly auctions —in February  and May 2026 —to assess how revenues are materializing.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5114

Overview of New Updates to the Cap-and-Invest Program

Dec 9, 2025 - This  will, in turn, impact allowance prices and costs paid by households and businesses. Allocation of Allowances Among Purposes. How CARB decides to allocate allowances across various broad purposes —such as selling them to benefit GGRF or providing them for free to industry and/or utilities —ultimately will determine where the revenue from the charges
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5097

The 2026-27 Budget: Permitting Support at the State Water Resources Control Board

Mar 2, 2026 - How Waters Are Defined Affects How They Are Regulated. Federal CWA requirements only apply to “waters of the United States ” (WOTUS), so the definition of WOTUS is important. The broader the definition, the more bodies of water will fall under federal jurisdiction —and vice versa.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5144

The 2024-25 Budget: Flood Management Proposals

Feb 26, 2024 - As such, the Legislature will need to grapple with how to make room for these types of regular expenditures within its annual budgets. In years when the General Fund is not in a position to support these costs on a pay ‑as ‑you ‑go basis, the Legislature could consider returning to the historical practice of relying on general obligation bond financing.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4856