The 2026-27 Budget: Judicial Branch

Feb 11, 2026 - Figure 3 Status of Trial Court Construction Projects Beginning  in 2019 ‑20 a Priority Group Estimated Project Costs (in Billions) Number Initiated
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5113

The 2025-26 California Spending Plan: Judiciary and Criminal Justice

Oct 24, 2025 - This includes $50  million for fire and life safety system projects at the Orange County Central Justice Center and the San Diego East County Regional Center and $7.2  million for lactation room projects.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5085

The 2023-24 Budget: Office of the State Public Defender

Feb 15, 2023 - Additionally, as noted by OSPD, 76  percent of its attorneys are white, while 78  percent of its active death penalty clients are non-white. Research suggests attorney representation could be more effective if trust is built when clients and attorneys are of similar backgrounds (such as race) or through effective DEI training.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4680

The 2026-27 Budget: Department of Justice

Feb 11, 2026 - Support for these teams was fully shifted over to the General Fund as part of the 2019-20 budget package. In the past couple of years , the General Fund —rather than special funds —have been used to support the costs of implementing some new firearm-related legislation and workload.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5118

Promoting Equity in the Parole Hearing Process

Jan 5, 2023 - For example, research done on a diverse, national sample of jury ‑eligible adults, found that they significantly associated Latino and Black men with danger and white men with safety. This is notable given that CDCR data indicate almost three ‑fourths of people who receive parole hearings are Hispanic or Black, as shown in Figure  2 .
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4658

The 2024-25 Budget: Judicial Branch

Feb 23, 2024 - Statewide Web Portal. As noted above, the judicial branch currently maintains a statewide web portal to help self-represented people navigate the court system. The 2018 ‑19 budget included $3.2  million General Fund in 2018 ‑19, declining to $709,000 annually beginning in 2020 ‑21, to construct and maintain this web portal.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4848

The 2024-25 Budget: Juvenile Custodial Interrogation Mandate

May 28, 2024 - These risks could be higher for Black and Hispanic youths because they tend to be overrepresented in annual youth arrests. Unknown What Effects Legal Counsel at This Stage Has. In our review, we did not identify robust research on the effects of providing youths with legal counsel before the waiver of Miranda rights or interrogations.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4910

Addressing Chronic Vacancies in Prison Mental Health Care

Feb 23, 2026 - While this proposed expansion is laudable, it would increase the rate of remote providers roughly to 30   percent —still 20  percentage points below the court allowed limit. (For more on this proposal, including some concerns we have with the amount of resources requested, please see the “Tele ‑Mental Health ” section in our brief The 2026‑27 Budget: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation .)
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5134

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

Feb 23, 2026 - The medical Receivership has been in place for nearly 20 years, despite indications over that time period that it might be coming to an end. For example, 14 years ago, the Plata court, noting improvements in care, ordered the development of a plan for transitioning the responsibility back to the state.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5137

Assessing the Provision of Criminal Indigent Defense

Sep 22, 2022 - For example, PPIC found that the African American arrest rate in 2016 was three times the white arrest rate. PPIC also found that African Americans have higher arrest rates than whites in nearly all California counties —with arrests rates that are on average about six times higher in counties with the largest disparities and nearly two times higher in counties with the lowest disparities.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4623