Updating the California Necessities Index

Aug 14, 2025 - Option D: Discontinue CNI, Replace With Other Published Series. Alternatively, the legislature could decide to retire the concept of the CNI, instead setting benefit rates based on other broader inflation measures calculated for Californians.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5065

Updating the California Necessities Index [Publication Details]

Aug 14, 2025 - Recent changes were made to the publication of statistics required to calculate the California Necessities Index, which is used to adjust certain benefit rates and cost-of-living adjustments. In this brief, we provide details on the changes and evaluate alternatives for the index that require only currently available data and conform to the original intent of the index.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Detail/5065

The 2025-26 Budget: CDTFA’s Tobacco Programs

Feb 14, 2025 - For example, when CDTFA seizes a retailer ’s noncompliant products, this counts as one seizure, regardless of the total amount of product seized. Can the administration provide workload measures that account for some of these limitations?
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4966

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

Nov 16, 2022 - In contrast, inflationary pressures are incorporated into the Department of Health Care Service’s process for setting capitated rates in Medi‑Cal managed care. This process uses a variety of sources of data and projections of costs and prices.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4647

Tax Credit Expansions in the American Rescue Plan

Apr 13, 2021 - Federal EITC The federal EITC is a provision of the federal income tax code that allows filers with total income below a certain level to reduce their tax liability by an amount that depends on their earnings from paid work or self-employment.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4410

Improving California’s Unemployment Insurance Program

Aug 8, 2022 - The state sets weekly UI payments based on prior earnings. Workers receive half of their average weekly earnings, based on their highest earning quarter of their base year. State law set in 2005 also caps the maximum payment at $450 per week.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4615

The 2020-21 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 13, 2020 - Two key factors are: Slowing Economic Growth. There are several signals that the economy may be cooling. For example, housing markets have been stagnant, job growth is down, and trade activity is slowing.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4135

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

Feb 23, 2026 - These costs could take the form of lower spending on other programs or higher taxes or fees. For example, if CDTFA spends all of the money that the Governor has proposed, the department might need to raise tobacco r etail license fees as soon as 2027 ‑28.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5132

The 2019-20 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 14, 2019 - The budget includes $ 125  m illion (non ‑Proposition  98 General Fund) ongoing to provide 10,000 full ‑day preschool slots for children from low ‑income families. The funding is to be the first of three augmentations, with the intent to provide a total of 30,000 additional slots to serve all low ‑income four ‑year olds by 2021 ‑22.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/3916

The 2026-27 Budget: State Mandate—Disclosure Requirements and Deferral of Property Taxation

Feb 19, 2026 - Property owners seeking tax relief under Proposition  19 must file a claim with the county in which the new (replacement) residence is located. After Proposition  19 went into effect, a backlog of claims developed, and some tax bills were sent to property owners that had not been updated to reflect the lower amounts they were entitled to pay under the terms of Proposition  19.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5130