March 19, 2026 | Brief

The 2026‑27 Budget

Child Care and State Preschool

Assesses the Governor’s 2026-27 proposals for child care and State Preschool and provides associated recommendations.

March 18, 2026 | Brief

The 2026‑27 Budget

Re‑Envisioning State Education Governance

Examines the Governor’s proposal to restructure state education governance.

March 18, 2026 | Report

The Bay-Delta Plan and Voluntary Agreements: Ensuring Effective Legislative Oversight

Discusses the State Water Resources Control Board’s proposed update of the water quality control plan for the San Francisco Bay-Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which includes an alternative compliance pathway for certain water users called voluntary agreements; provides recommendations for legislative oversight to help ensure the plan achieves its objectives.

March 13, 2026 | Brief

The 2026‑27 Budget

Department of Developmental Services

Analyzes the Governor’s budget for the Department of Developmental Services (DDS).

March 6, 2026 | Brief

The 2026‑27 Budget

Streamlining California’s Affordable Housing Funding System

Provides background on affordable housing and affordable housing funding programs, describes and analyzes the Governor’s budget proposals related to affordable housing funding, and provides recommendations to the Legislature.

March 5, 2026 | Brief

The 2026‑27 Budget

California Community Colleges

Analyzes the Governor’s budget proposals for the California Community Colleges. It covers apportionments, enrollment growth, Calbright College, and various other proposals.

March 2, 2026 | Report

The 2026‑27 Budget

Medi-Cal Analysis

Analyzes the Governor’s budget for Medi-Cal, with a focus on base spending trends, changes to provider taxes, implementation of new H.R. 1 rules, oversight over enacted budget solutions, and considerations for identifying additional savings in Medi-Cal.

February 26, 2026 | Brief

The 2026‑27 Budget

University of California

Reviews core funding and spending trends at the University of California (UC) and analyzes the Governor’s budget proposals relating to UC’s core operations and enrollment.

February 23, 2026 | Brief

The 2026‑27 Budget

California Department of Corrections And Rehabilitation

Provides our analysis of the Governor’s 2026-27 budget proposals related to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

February 23, 2026 | Report

Addressing Chronic Vacancies in Prison Mental Health Care

Provides an overview of CDCR’s mental health system, assesses ongoing efforts to address mental health vacancies, and make recommendations aimed at bolstering the state’s ability to recruit and retain sufficient mental health staff.

February 19, 2026 | Brief

The 2026‑27 Budget

K-12 Proposals

Provides our analysis of several K-12 proposals included in the Governor's 2026-27 budget.

February 10, 2026 | Brief

The 2026‑27 Budget

Framework for Approaching the Natural Resources, Environmental Protection, and Agriculture Budget

Provides a framework to help the Legislature approach funding environment-related programs within the context of the state’s budget challenges.

February 10, 2026 | Brief

The 2026‑27 Budget

Cap-and-Invest Expenditure Plan

Reviews the Governor’s proposed plan for spending cap-and-invest revenues in 2026-27.

February 5, 2026 | Brief

The 2026‑27 Budget

Higher Education Overview

Provides an overview and initial analysis of the Governor’s higher education budget plan.

February 4, 2026 | Brief

The 2026‑27 Budget

Proposition 98 Guarantee and K-12 Spending Plan

Examines the estimates of the Proposition 98 guarantee in the Governor’s budget and assesses the overall structure of the Governor’s school spending plan.

January 28, 2026 | Report

Implementing California’s Child Welfare Prevention Services Program

Discusses ongoing implementation of California’s Family First Prevention Services program since 2021-22

January 6, 2026 | Report

Assessing a Shift to Enrollment-Based School Funding

Provides our assessment of such a shift, describes a few policy alternatives that maintain the attendance-based system, and identifies key issues for the Legislature to consider if switching to enrollment-based funding.

December 10, 2025 | Report

Assessment of CSU’s Graduation Initiative 2025

Focuses on the California State University’s (CSU’s) Graduation Initiative 2025 (GI 2025); provides background, discusses associated funding and activities, analyzes outcomes, assesses the benefits and drawbacks, and makes recommendations for the Legislature to consider in the next GI.

December 10, 2025 | Report

Assessment of the Strong Workforce Program

Focuses on the California Community Colleges’ Strong Workforce Program; provides background, assesses its implementation and outcomes, and raises a few issues to consider relating to coordination of workforce development programs more broadly.

June 12, 2025 | Report

Retail Theft in California:
Looking Back at a Decade of Change

Provides background on trends in retail theft over the past decade, discusses some of the possible contributors to these trends, describes recent retail theft-related law changes, and outlines key questions that the Legislature may want to ask as it continues to provide oversight of this issue.

May 24, 2025 | Post

The 2025‑26 Budget

Multiyear Budget Outlook

Presents our office’s forecast of the condition of the state General Fund budget through 2028-29 under our revenue estimates and assuming the Governor’s May Revision policies were adopted.

May 7, 2025 | Report

Assessing California’s Climate Policies:
Cap‑and‑Trade Reauthorization

Helps inform legislative decision-making around reauthorization of the cap-and-trade program.

April 30, 2025 | Brief

Trends in Higher Education

Facilities

This is the final brief of a six-part series covering higher education trends in California. It focuses on higher education facilities and includes key issues for the Legislature to consider as it makes related policy and budget decisions.

April 10, 2025 | Report

Rethinking California’s Reserve Policy

Assesses proposed changes by the Governor to the state’s reserve policy and put forward our own recommendations that would allow the state to save enough in reserves to be able to afford its core service level over the long-term.

April 10, 2025 | Report

Improving Legislative Oversight of Emergency Authorities

Describes how the Legislature has delegated some of its core powers to allow the Governor to exercise emergency authorities during a state of emergency.

April 3, 2025 | Brief

Medi‑Cal Pharmacy Spending

Provides an overview of pharmacy spending in Medi-Cal, including historical spending trends, assumptions under the 2025-26 Governor’s Budget, and key issues and recommendations for the Legislature.

March 25, 2025 | Brief

Overview of K‑12 Career Technical Education

This brief is intended to give policymakers a high-level overview of the state’s role in supporting K-12 career technical education programs. It also raises key issues for the Legislature to consider.