Rethinking California's Reserve Policy

Apr 10, 2025 - Proposition  2 limits how much can be saved in the constitutional reserve to 10  percent of General Fund taxes. (There is no limit on how much can be saved on a discretionary basis.) Currently, this is about $21  billion.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5028

The Definition of Qualified Capital Outlay for the State Appropriations Limit

Feb 18, 2022 - If the homes were scattered throughout a city, however, we think the argument is more tenuous. For this reason, in the case of vehicles, we think a vehicle represents an asset —not a fleet —and so the value of an individual vehicle must exceed $100,000 in order to count as an exclusion.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4547

The 2025-26 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 13, 2025 - As such, if the Legislature wishes to have substantively more reserves available when responding to downturns or other emergencies, we would recommend also changing the formulas that set aside funds each year to increase how much is saved.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4951

The 2022-23 Budget: State Appropriations Limit Implications

Mar 30, 2022 - That is because these calculations are wholly separate —the availability of a surplus depends on how much the state has committed to spending over time, while SAL  requirements exist because revenues exceed a limit established by voters in 1979.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4583

COVID-19 and California’s Evolving Fiscal Outlook

Mar 18, 2020 - Earlier revenue estimates now clearly require downward revision, though it is premature to say by how much. While our office will provide updated economic and fiscal analyses as more information becomes available, this could take a few months.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4203

The 2025-26 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook

Nov 20, 2024 - A key driver of California ’s economic slump over the last two years has been the Federal Reserve ’s efforts to tamp down inflation by raising interest rates and shrinking how much money is available for lending and investment.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4939

Flexible Funding to California in the American Rescue Plan

Mar 23, 2021 - Cities and counties will receive fiscal recovery funds based on a set of formulas that considers the jurisdiction ’s population, among other factors. The federal government will distribute funds directly to all counties and cities with populations greater than 50,000.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4407

Federal COVID-19-Related Funding to California

Apr 28, 2020 - For example, in some cases, federal funding will be provided on a competitive grant basis, meaning that the eligible entities will not know how much funding they will receive until the grant applications are accepted.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4226

The 2025-26 Budget: Undertaking Fiscal Oversight

Feb 24, 2025 - How Do You Focus Your Efforts? The Legislature cannot reasonably undertake in-depth oversight of all state programs in one budget season. As such, the Legislature must determine how to focus its efforts so as to provide information that would be most helpful in making future budget decisions.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4983

With New Deficits Looming, California Will Weigh its Options for Allocating a Large Revenue Windfall

Dec 1, 2020 - Within just a few weeks, the budget process was upended from a discussion about how to allocate a surplus into the much less welcome task of solving a large anticipated deficit problem. Moreover, the situation presented the Legislature with a difficult dilemma.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4305