The Bay-Delta Plan and Voluntary Agreements: Ensuring Effective Legislative Oversight

Mar 18, 2026 - The Bay and Delta form one of the country ’s largest estuaries (where fresh water mixes with salt water). Its greater watershed —including the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers and their tributaries (such as the Feather, American, Mokelumne, and Tuolumne Rivers) —drains water from about 40  percent of the state ’s landmass.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5163

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

Dec 9, 2025 - 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 paid by emitters will go, including which entities will receive these revenues and for what purposes.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5097

The 2026-27 Budget: Framework for Approaching the Natural Resources, Environmental Protection, and Agriculture Budget

Feb 10, 2026 - Based on our assessment, we find evidence that a number of the Governor ’s proposals address issues where additional resources might be needed to avoid higher future costs and/or serious harm. Some examples include the following.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5116

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: Proposition 4 Spending Plan

Feb 12, 2025 - (While potentially very valuable, requiring evaluations likely would entail some associated costs, so the Legislature will want to be similarly selective and targeted in considering where such information would be most helpful.)
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4958

The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Natural Resources and Environmental Protection

Oct 16, 2025 - The former will fund coastal projects —selected in collaboration with the California Coastal Commission (which enforces Coastal Act violations and collects associated penalties) —near where the violations occurred.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5080

Frequently Asked Questions About Wildfires in California

Jan 28, 2025 - Response to Wildfires Can Vary Depending on Where They Start. In the case of wildfires, the disaster response approach can vary based on where the fire starts and which entity has wildfire response jurisdiction.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4952

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 2025-26 Budget: Natural Resources and Agriculture Discretionary Spending Proposals

Feb 18, 2025 - This is a distinction that is particularly important in a budget environment with limited General Fund resources where the state may find it challenging to address its own areas of responsibility —such as infrastructure it owns and operates.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4967

The 2025-26 Budget: State Mandate—Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board

May 5, 2025 - It believes that local governments have fee authority even in cases where they have to obtain voter approval and even if obtaining voter approval is challenging. That is, the administration contends that having to obtain voter approval does not negate the underlying fee authority itself.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5039