Addressing Chronic Vacancies in Prison Mental Health Care

Feb 23, 2026 - We recommend expanding the licensing exemptions so that all out ‑of ‑state mental health providers already licensed in their respective state no longer need to acquire a California license to work at CDCR.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5134

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

Feb 23, 2026 - The Legislature could do so by requesting annual updates on the progress made through reports and in budget hearings. The Legislature can encourage progress toward achieving compliance in other ways, such as by considering the issue in confirm ation hearings for CDCR staff involved in mental health care.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5137

The 2025-26 Budget: Judicial Branch

Feb 12, 2025 - Additionally, the judicial branch wanted to mitigate the impacts of the reductions on court users by distributing the funding as quickly as possible and had sufficient excess TCTF expenditure authority to do so.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4959

The 2024-25 Budget: Juvenile Custodial Interrogation Mandate

May 28, 2024 - Should it become clear that there are not benefits of providing youths with legal counsel at this stage of the juvenile justice process —or that the benefits of doing so do not justify the costs —the Legislature could suspend the mandate at that time.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4910

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

Jun 12, 2025 - In doing so, Proposition  47 changed how these crimes are handled at certain key stages of the justice system. This is because law enforcement generally has more limited authority to arrest people for misdemeanors than felonies.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5055

Promoting Equity in the Parole Hearing Process

Jan 5, 2023 - The Legislature could take various approaches to do so. For example, the Legislature could increase the standard that must be met—which is currently established through case law
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4658

Overview and Update on the Prison Receivership

Nov 8, 2023 - In doing so, the Receiver geographically grouped prisons to establish prison health care regions. Each region was established with dedicated staff to provide oversight, coordination, and additional support to the prisons in the region.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4813

The 2023-24 Budget: Increased Federal Authority For State Crisis Intervention Program

Feb 22, 2023 - We note that the Legislature may also need to adjust the level of reimbursement authority for Judicial Council —and/or other state entities that the Legislature may choose to involve —so that it can receive grant funds from BSCC.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4697

Achieving the Goals of the SB 678 County Probation Grant Program

Oct 10, 2023 - This makes it difficult for the Legislature to assess whether counties that report funding evidence ‑based practices and programs are in fact doing so. This is concerning given one of the goals of the program is to improve public safety by incentivizing the use of these  practices.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4806

The 2016-17 Budget: Fiscal Impacts of Proposition 47

Feb 12, 2016 - In contrast, the budgeting process for DSH and the courts is not based on workload so a separate action is required to revert savings realized by these departments. However, the administration does not propose any reductions to DSH to reflect the estimated savings.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3352