California’s Strong Revenue Trends Mask Looming Budget Risk

Jan 23, 2026 - Subscribe | California State Legislature | Online Voter Registration | Privacy Policy | Accessibility Legislative Analyst's Office | The California Legislature's Nonpartisan Fiscal and Policy Advisor 925 L Street, Suite 1000 Sacramento, CA 95814 | (916) 445-4656
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5104

The 2025-26 Budget: Overview of the Spending Plan

Oct 16, 2025 - In addition to this report, we will release a series of issue ‑specific, online posts that give more detail on the major actions in the budget package. The Budget Problem For the third year in a row, the state faced a budget problem, or deficit.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5079

The 2025-26 Budget: California Spending Plan Series [Publication Details]

Oct 16, 2025 - Each year, our office publishes California Spending Plan, a series of publications that summarize the annual state budget. The flagship report of this series, Overview of the Spending Plan, is presented here along with short online posts that focus on major areas and features of the 2025-26 budget package. As the posts become available, we will add them below.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5105

The 2026-27 Budget: How to Use One-Time Revenue Improvements

Feb 20, 2026 - At the same time, the state would continue to use $10  billion in reserves in 2025-26 under the administration ’s plan. In addition, recent budgets have relied on nearly $30  billion in borrowing to address deficits, and the Governor ’s budget proposes almost $6  billion in additional borrowing (see Figure  1).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5133

The 2024-25 Budget: Overview of the Spending Plan

Sep 6, 2024 - This UC EdBudget table and this CSU EdBudget table (both online) show all base increases, decreases, and deferrals under the budget agreement. State Sets Enrollment Growth Expectations for UC and CSU.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4922

The 2025-26 Budget: Initial Comments on the Governor's May Revision

May 17, 2025 - The increase is primarily driven by higher costs in the Medi ‑Cal program, which are projected to exceed January estimates by $10  billion over the three ‑year budget window: roughly $2  billion in 2024 ‑25 and $8  billion in 2025 ‑26.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5044

The 2026-27 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget [Publication Details]

Jan 12, 2026 - On January 9, 2026, Governor Newsom’s administration presented its proposed state budget to the California Legislature. In this report, we provide a high-level summary and our initial analysis of the Governor’s budget based on our preliminary review (as of January 10). Assembly Budget Handout (PDF) Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Handout (PDF)
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5101

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

Jan 12, 2026 - In this report, we provide a high ‑level summary and our initial analysis of the Governor ’s budget based on our preliminary review (as of January 10). In the coming weeks, we will analyze the plan in more detail and release many additional issue ‑specific budget analyses.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5101

The 2025-26 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 13, 2025 - Introduction On January 10, 2025, Governor Newsom ’s administration presented its proposed state budget to the California Legislature. In this report, we provide a brief summary of the Governor ’s budget based on our initial review as of January 12.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4951

The 2025-26 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 13, 2025 - Update (1/16/25): A set of tables detailing various solutions and proposals has been appended to the online version of this report. They are available using the HTML link above. On January 10, 2025, Governor Newsom’s administration presented its proposed state budget to the California Legislature.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4951/3