Updating the California Necessities Index

Aug 14, 2025 - First, the new measure should —to the extent feasible —minimize quantitative differences from the old measure. To assess this, we calculate each new measure using data from prior years and calculate the difference between each new measure and the CNI in prior years.
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

Sales Tax Exemption for Bunker Fuel

Nov 19, 2025 - In the same month, the average prices per metric ton of marine gas oil in the Americas and in the Asia-Pacific region were $837 and $786, respectively. Maritime Fuel Deliveries. To estimate California deliveries of residual fuel oil (a major type of maritime fuel), we combine data from a couple of sources.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5094

California’s Low-Wage Workers and Minimum Wage

Mar 11, 2024 - As we noted in another post , a new law will raise many of these workers’ wages to $20 per hour on April 1, 2024. After that law goes into effect, fast-food workers very likely will not be a low-wage occupation as defined above.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4878/1

Local Sales Tax Rebates in 2023-24

Sep 16, 2025 - One-quarter of Californians live in a jurisdiction that paid rebates in 2023-24. Focusing on these areas, Figure  3 displays the distribution of rebate payments across jurisdictions, weighted by the number of residents.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5074

The 2025-26 Budget: California’s Film Tax Credit

Feb 28, 2025 - The COVID ‑19 effect was short ‑lived and shoot days returned to pre ‑pandemic levels in 2021. In contrast, filming activity following the strikes has shown no signs of recovering so far, with shoot days slightly declining further in 2024.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5000

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

Nov 16, 2022 - Cases in which program spending is adjusted by certain factors, like a cost ‑of ‑living adjustment (COLA). These factors are set and approved in state law. These adjustments require limited annual legislative input, particularly when continuously appropriated.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4647

California’s Low-Wage Workers and Minimum Wage

Mar 11, 2024 - Single parents with one, two, or three children live in one-bedroom, two-bedroom, or three-bedroom apartments, respectively. An adult couple without children live in a studio/efficiency. An adult couple with one or two children live in a two-bedroom apartment.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4878/4

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

Feb 19, 2026 - The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local governments when (1)  new state laws or regulations mandate that they implement a new program or higher level of service and (2)  the local government does not have offsetting revenues available to fully cover the associated costs.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5130

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

Feb 23, 2026 - We recommend that the Legislature adopt a modified version of this proposal and conside r whether new provisional language is needed to prevent such problems from recurring. Background Cannabis Tax Program.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5132