An Overview of Federal Funding in California

A five page table which summarizes LAO recommendations for legislative action as described in our report, Federal Economic Stimulus Package Fiscal Effect on California.

The recently enacted federal economic stimulus package commits a total of $787 billion nationwide. We estimate that California will receive over $31 billion in monies that can be used to address budget shortfalls and supplement existing state spending and billions more in competitive grants. The recently enacted state 2009-10 budget specifies that if the amount available to address the state's budgetary problems is less than $10 billion, then annual state program reductions of nearly $1 billion and revenue increases of about $1.8 billion will go into effect. Based on the enacted state 2009-10 budget we estimate that $8 billion would be available. Given the state’s continuing economic struggles, however, it may be possible to use additional federal education dollars for budgetary relief. We identify key issues that the Legislature should consider in making decision regarding these new federal funds, including ways to maximize their benefit to the state General Fund and to provide appropriate oversight on the use of the federal monies.

With the recent Southern California wildfires, there has been significant interest in the programs that are available to help disaster victims. The purpose of this memorandum is to provide information on the programs and funds available to deal with state disasters. We provide links to more specific information, such as program eligibility and rules.

If enacted by Congress, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 would have a significant fiscal impact on California. We project, based on the provisions which we can estimate at this time, that the fiscal impact of this legislation on California would be $3.1 billion--$1.7 billion in reduced federal funds and $1.4 billion in increased state costs-during federal fiscal years 2006 through 2010. These amounts are preliminary estimates and do not reflect potentially significant secondary effects. In this report, we review the major provisions of this legislation, estimate the fiscal impact on federal funds and state funds based on current law, and identify key issues for legislative consideration.

The implementation of the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) represents a significant opportunity for the Legislature to upgrade the state’s election systems and improve the administration of election laws. At a statewide level, the most pressing HAVA deadline is the requirement to have a federally compliant voter registration database operational by January 1, 2006. We offer a number of key considerations to assist the Legislature in implementing HAVA.

The seven-part administration redesign proposal would result in broad changes in Medi-Cal managed care as well as some more limited changes in benefits, cost-sharing, and eligibility administration. Overall, we find that the Governor’s proposals are conceptually sound but that the Legislature needs more information about some aspects of the package and that some refinements are warranted.

Presented to Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 2 and Assembly Education Committee in a joint hearing on March 25, 2003.

Congress is considering different approaches to the reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. We estimate that over the next five federal fiscal years net state costs would be about $2.2 billion for the House bill (H.R. 4737) and $140 million for the version passed by the Senate Finance Committee.

President Bush's welfare reform reauthorization plan, if enacted by Congress, would increase the effective work participation rate requirement for California by a factor of almost ten. In order to have a reasonable chance of meeting this mandate, we estimate that the state would incur total additional net costs of approximately $2.8 billion over the next five federal fiscal years.

Only 26 percent of single-parent cases in federal fiscal year 2000 were participating in CalWORKs in accordance with state law. We believe that increasing participation is an important long-term focus for the Legislature.

State Corporate Taxation Of Sales to the Federal Government

Federal Welfare-to-Work Block Grant

Increasing the Role of the Federal Government In California Law Enforcement

(1) Will California Meet the TANF Maintenance-of-Effort Requirement? And (2) $2.5 Million Deal Funds Toll Bridge Seismic Retrofit