Fixing Unemployment Insurance

Dec 2, 2024 - The outstanding loan is very likely to grow by billions of dollars over the next several years before the federal surcharge contributions are large enough to begin making progress toward repayment. During this period, state General Fund interest costs will likely be about $1  billion per year.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4943

The 2022-23 Budget: Fuel Price and Other Fiscal Relief Options

May 12, 2022 - Providing tax refunds to vehicle owners would be less directly linked to fuel consumption, but would provide some related relief given that these individuals likely drive to some degree. Providing rebates to zero ‑emission vehicle owners (as included in the Governor ’s proposal), however, would not have any link to gas price  burden.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4597

Evaluating State Economic Stimulus Proposals

Feb 1, 2021 - New public spending is likely to be more effective at stimulating the economy during and immediately following a recession rather than late in an economic expansion. This is because the increased public spending may be less likely to displace private sector spending due to the amount of slack in the economy.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4331

California’s Low-Wage Workers and Minimum Wage

Mar 11, 2024 - Accordingly, respondents are more likely to respond to the wage questions in Februa ry and March than in other months. Seasonal hiring patterns can vary across the wage distribution, so this exclusion restriction is not as airtight as the first one.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4878/4

The 2023-24 Budget: California's Film Tax Credit

Feb 28, 2023 - States With Film Tax Credits Likely Have More Motion Picture Production. While some studies reach mixed or inconclusive findings, the balance of the evidence suggests that motion picture production increases in states with film tax credits.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4713

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

Feb 23, 2026 - In the case of the Cannabis Tax Program, we note: The administration has not presented any arguments linking the General Fund ’s share of costs to its share of indirect benefits. This is not part of a broad, systematic effort to allocate costs based on indirect benefits.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5132

The 2026-27 Budget: California Competes Extension

Mar 18, 2026 - Namely, those tax credits could have been awarded to another applicant who would have been more likely to achieve their milestones. However, as we discuss next, this has not been the case in the last few years of the program.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5162

The 2023-24 Budget: Considering Inflation's Effects on State Programs

Nov 16, 2022 - In ‑Kind, Cash, and Cash ‑Like Benefits. The  state provides some in ‑kind, cash, and cash ‑like benefits directly to individuals. These benefits include, for example, cash assistance programs like CalWORKs and Supplemental Security Income/State  Supplementary Payment (SSI/SSP), as well as Cal Grants provided to students for non ‑tuition expenses.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4647

Updating the California Necessities Index

Aug 14, 2025 - Therefore, the BLS will likely continue publishing the statistics required to calculate these s tatistics, making this option likely more robust to future publication decisions. Recommendation Rank of Options.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5065

Improving California’s Unemployment Insurance Program

Aug 8, 2022 - At the Employment Development Department (EDD) —which oversees UI —payments were delayed for roughly 5  million workers and improperly denied for likely 1  million more. The department ’s phone lines were routinely overwhelmed by the number of frustrated callers.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615