The 2025-26 Budget: State Mandates—Regional Water Quality Control Boards

May 30, 2025 - State law tasks the Commission on State Mandates (CSM) with determining whether new state laws or regulations affecting local governments create state-reimbursable mandates. Typically, the process for determining whether a law or reg ulation is a state-reimbursable mandate takes several years.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5054

The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Housing, Homelessness and Local Government

Oct 22, 2025 - As a result of CEQA, unless a project falls under a statutory or certain other type of exemption, public agencies (such as cities and counties) generally must conduct a detailed study of the potential environmental effects of new housing construction (and many other types of development) prior to approving it.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5082

The 2023-24 Budget: County of Los Angeles Citizens Redistricting Commission Mandate

May 2, 2023 - Historically, a city council or board of supervisors was responsible for establishing their own new council and supervisor districts, respectively. After the creation of the CRC, some charter cities established independent commissions with the authority to adopt a redistricting plan independent of their city council.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4766

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

May 5, 2025 - State law tasks the Commission on State Mandates (CSM) with determining whether new state laws or regulations affecting local governments create state-reimbursable mandates. Typically, the process for determining whether a law or regulation is a state-reimbursable mandate takes several years.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5039

An Initial Look at Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Local Government Fiscal Condition

May 12, 2021 - As a result, the actual amount local governments will receive in FEMA reimbursements may differ f rom their submitted claims and create additional budgetary strain on local governments. LAO Comments Condition of Local Governments ’ Finances Fiscal Condition of Local Governments Varies.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4428

The 2025-26 Budget: Oversight of Encampment Resolution Funding

Mar 5, 2025 - In 2021-22, the Legislature created the ERF program and charged Cal ICH with administering it. The purpose of ERF is to provide competitive grants to cities, counties, and CoCs to address “critical encampment concerns ” in their communities and transition individuals to “safe and stable housing, ” with a focus on permanent housing.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5007

The 2022-23 Budget: Municipal Stormwater and Urban Runoff Discharges Mandate

Feb 28, 2022 - Commission Determined Portion of Permit Requirements Created a State ‑Reimbursable Mandate for Some Local Governments. In 2003, Los Angeles County and several cities in the region filed test claims with the commission alleging that various sections of the 2001 Los Angeles RWQCB stormwater discharge permit constituted state ‑reimbursable mandates.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4565

Climate Change Impacts Across California - Housing

Apr 5, 2022 - (Under existing state law, cities and counties must consider disaster risk when they create the safety element of their general plans, but not the housing element.) For example, local governments could be required to implement adaptation measures like requiring land to be set aside surrounding developments for uses that can serve as natural fuel breaks to help reduce the fire risk to those developments.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4584

The 2024-25 Budget: Juvenile Custodial Interrogation Mandate

May 28, 2024 - Commission Determined Chapter  335 Created a State-Reimbursable Mandate. The Commission found that Chapter  335 ’s requirements to provide access to legal counsel for arrested youths age 16 and 17 created a state-reimbursable mandate by imposing new state-mandated activities and costs on local governments.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4910

The 2022-23 Budget: The Governor’s Homelessness Plan

Feb 9, 2022 - Applicants will be required to provide matching funds, with the match rate varying by the type of applicant (for example, a 10  percent match will be required for counties and cities, and a 5  percent match for tribes).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4521