California’s Strong Revenue Trends Mask Looming Budget Risk

Jan 23, 2026 - After the dot-com bust and the Great Recession, it took four and five years, respectively, for revenues to recover. Incorporating revenue risk into the budget now, therefore, reflects prudence, not pessimism.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5104

The 2026-27 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

Nov 19, 2025 - For California, the dot ‑com era —when stocks rose and then fell precipitously in response to widespread adoption of the internet —offers the most salient example. The internet has proven to be a transformative technology and, yet, the stock market ’s initial reaction was clearly overly exuberant.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5091

California's Legislative Analyst's Office and the Value of Independence

Nov 15, 2024 - As such, our independent fiscal assessment underlies the Legislature ’s ability to assert an informed check on the executive branch, making any added complexity from diverging estimates a worthwhile trade-off.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4938

Whether or Not to Tap Reserves to Solve Estimated Budget Problem Emerges as Key Fiscal Decision Facing California’s Legislature

Apr 19, 2023 - Other downturns, such as the 2001 so-called dot-com recession, had severe fiscal implications while inflicting somewhat milder economic damage. The 2008 Great Recession had brutal effects on both the state ’s economy and budget.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4762

Rethinking California's Reserve Policy

Apr 10, 2025 - In March of 2004, on the heels of the dot ‑com bust, voters passed Proposition  58, which created the Budget Stabilization Account (BSA). In the 2006 ‑07 budget, the Legislature deposited $472  million into the BSA and in 2007 ‑08 deposited $1.5  billion.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5028

The 2025-26 Budget: Initial Comments on the Governor's May Revision

May 17, 2025 - The reason for this difference is mainly that the May Revision includes a number of proposals that generate budget savings that our office considers budget solutions, but the administration would count as workload budget changes.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5044

The 2023-24 Budget: Multiyear Assessment

Feb 15, 2023 - Three of those —the recession in the early 1990s, the dot ‑com bust in the early 2000s, and the Great Recession —resulted in large revenue shortfalls and ensuing multiyear deficits, even for some years after each recession ended.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4687

The 2025-26 Budget: Undertaking Fiscal Oversight

Feb 24, 2025 - For example, programs typically have information about the rate of expenditure, number of people served, and services provided. While these metrics provide important insights into programs, they often only provide indirect evidence of programs ’ success.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4983

The 2024-25 Budget: Overview of the Spending Plan

Sep 6, 2024 - To help address the budget problem, the spending plan makes a number of changes to one ‑time and temporary funding that was agreed to in previous budgets for climate, resources, and environmental programs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4922

The 2024-25 California Spending Plan: Other Provisions

Oct 2, 2024 - This could reduce the number of separate contracts DGS uses to procure services, such as roofing, painting, or plumbing. Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Budget-Related Legislation Provides Legislative Oversight of GenAI Executive Order (EO).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4934