Rethinking California's Reserve Policy

Apr 10, 2025 - Proposition  4 sets up a system in which all tax revenues —with only limited exceptions —are counted at some level of government (for example, the state, or a city, county, or school district). Funds transferred between these entities of government are counted at some part of the structure.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5028

The 2025-26 Budget: Undertaking Fiscal Oversight

Feb 24, 2025 - Where the state has implemented expansions of state-federal partnerships, however, there typically is greater fiscal flexibility. Can the Entire Program Be Evaluated, or Should Oversight Focus on Specific Components?
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4983

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

Jan 13, 2025 - Two key areas where these savings have eroded are in the managed care organization (MCO) tax package and reductions to state operations. These are described in the box below. The forthcoming Appendix 1 will also provide a full list of the solutions from the 2024 ‑25 budget package that generate savings in 2025 ‑26.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4951

The 2024-25 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions

Oct 2, 2024 - To address the budget problem, the budget also makes several other funding changes: Postpones Infrastructure Funding for the City of Fresno. Last year ’s budget allocated $250  million for public infrastructure investments in the City of Fresno.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4934

The 2024-25 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions

Oct 2, 2024 - To address the budget problem, the budget also makes several other funding changes: Postpones Infrastructure Funding for the City of Fresno. Last year ’s budget allocated $250  million for public infrastructure investments in the City of Fresno.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4934/governors-office-of-emergency-services

The Definition of Qualified Capital Outlay for the State Appropriations Limit

Feb 18, 2022 - If the homes were scattered throughout a city, however, we think the argument is more tenuous. For this reason, in the case of vehicles, we think a vehicle represents an asset —not a fleet —and so the value of an individual vehicle must exceed $100,000 in order to count as an exclusion.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4547

Federal COVID-19-Related Funding to California

Apr 28, 2020 - Where possible, we rely on estimates from a relevant state department or directly from the federal government. However, in many cases, the estimates of amounts that will flow to California are still unknown or could continue to change.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4226

The 2024-25 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

Dec 7, 2023 - Although the Proposition  98 Reserve could allow the state to reduce General Fund spending with minimal disruption to school programs, the reserve balance is not large enough to obtain $16.7  billion in savings by itself.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4819

Flexible Funding to California in the American Rescue Plan

Mar 23, 2021 - Cities and counties will receive fiscal recovery funds based on a set of formulas that considers the jurisdiction ’s population, among other factors. The federal government will distribute funds directly to all counties and cities with populations greater than 50,000.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4407

The State Appropriations Limit

Apr 21, 2021 - A substantial majority of cities and counties ( 82  p ercent of counties and 70  p ercent of cities) have spending at or below 60  p ercent of their limits. Collectively, counties have nearly $ 100  b illion while cities have $ 55  b illion in collective room under their limits.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4416