The 2024-25 Budget: Juvenile Custodial Interrogation Mandate

May 28, 2024 - These risks could be higher for Black and Hispanic youths because they tend to be overrepresented in annual youth arrests. Unknown What Effects Legal Counsel at This Stage Has. In our review, we did not identify robust research on the effects of providing youths with legal counsel before the waiver of Miranda rights or interrogations.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4910

The 2026-27 Budget: Department of Justice

Feb 11, 2026 - Direct DOJ Provide a Framework for Determining What Workload Should Be Funded by Fee Revenues. We recommend the Legislature direct DOJ to provide a potential framework by January 10, 2027 for determining what firearm and ammunition workload should be funded by special fund fee revenues.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5118

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

Feb 23, 2026 - However, because these decisions are typically internal to the administration and made after the budget is enacted, it is difficult for the Legislature to know what activities are affected and what programmatic implications that m ay have.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5137

Addressing Chronic Vacancies in Prison Mental Health Care

Feb 23, 2026 - Given the importance of non ‑compensation factors in determining vacancy rates, it is unclear what level of pay increase would be needed to meaningfully improve recruitment and retention for mental health positions.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5134

Promoting Equity in the Parole Hearing Process

Jan 5, 2023 - To the extent that implicit bias affects key actors ’ thinking in the parole hearing process, candidates who are subject to negative implicit biases (such as Black and Latino men) would be disproportionately disadvantaged in the parole hearing process.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4658

The 2022-23 Budget: Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training

Jan 31, 2022 - We recommend the Legislature direct POST to submit a revised proposal in the spring t hat addresses these concerns. Second, the Governor proposes one ‑time General Fund support to develop a law enforcement officer wellness program.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4507

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

Feb 22, 2024 - Accordingly, we find that significant ongoing savings from pursuing further prison capacity reductions would likely far outweigh any costs associated with mitigating the potential negative effects of capacity reductions.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4852

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

Jun 12, 2025 - Pinpointing cost increases tied directly to the use of these new enforcement and prosecution tools may be difficult due to both limited data and the challenge of knowing what costs would have been absent these law changes.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5055

The 2025-26 Budget: Department of Justice

Feb 19, 2025 - In addition, requiring agencies to pay for a portion of the BFS services they use would provide them 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

The 2025-26 Budget: Judicial Branch

Feb 12, 2025 - Both components of the Governor ’s proposed augmentation provide Judicial Council with complete discretion over (1)  what the funds are used for and (2)  how the funds are allocated to the trial courts.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4959