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November 1, 2021 - This post summarizes the state’s 2021-22 spending package for Home- and Community-Based Services. It is part of our Spending Plan series, which contains posts focused on each major sector of the state budget.
October 29, 2021 - The 2021‑22 budget provides $10.7 billion ($5 billion General Fund) to 50 housing and homelessness-related programs across 15 state entities. Some of the major uses of housing and homelessness funding in the state budget support the Homekey Program’s acquisition of properties for use as permanent housing, provide flexible aid to local governments to address homelessness in their communities, provide funding to address the backlog in affordable housing development, and help local governments plan to meet their housing production goals. The budget also provides funding in other areas of the budget that could be used to address homelessness and/or housing affordability, including, the health, human services, veteran services, courts, transportation, higher education, and labor areas of the state budget.
October 13, 2021 - Presented to: Assembly Select Committee on Economic Development in the Inland Empire
September 23, 2021 - This post discusses features of the state's spending plan that were not covered elsewhere in the 2021-22 Spending Plan series.
September 7, 2021 - We reviewed the proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU) for Bargaining Unit 8 (Firefighters). State Bargaining Unit 8’s current members are represented by Cal Fire Local 2881. This review is pursuant to Section 19829.5 of the Government Code.
June 25, 2021 - This analysis reviews 20 labor agreements received by the Legislature between June 9 and June 15, 2021. The analysis summarizes and provides comments on the agreements. In addition, the analysis provides overarching comments across the 20 agreements and offers recommendations to the Legislature.
May 26, 2021 - The Governor’s 2021‑22 May Revision budget proposes $36 million General Fund to pay the first, partial payment on the state’s outstanding federal Unemployment Insurance (UI) loan and proposes to direct $1.1 billion in federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act funds to pay down a portion of the outstanding loan. In this post, we (1) provide an overview of the state’s UI system financing, (2) highlight how the pandemic affected the UI system, (3) look ahead to upcoming costs to employers and the state to repay the federal UI loan, and (4) assess the Governor’s proposed $1.1 billion pre-payment.
May 18, 2021 - This post provides an overview of state and federal stimulus payments to date, describes the Governor's May Revision proposal for a second round of Golden State Stimulus payments, and presents two alternatives that go further toward filling in the gaps in federal pandemic relief.
March 18, 2021 - Presented to: Assembly Subcommittee No. 6 on Budget Process, Oversight and Program Evaluation Hon. Philip Y. Ting, Chair
March 10, 2021 - This report provides an overview of the 2014 California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) funding plan, and analyzes the various challenges and complexities of the plan that have come to light that may impede CalSTRS’ ability to successfully eliminate the system’s unfunded actuarial obligation (UAO) by 2046. We offer several short- and longer-term recommendations for the Legislature to consider to help strengthen CalSTRS’ ability to eliminate current and future UAO, achieve long-term savings, and improve legislative oversight.
March 2, 2021 - In this publication, we provide an overview of the Governor’s emergency spending authorities. We assess the Governor’s 2021-22 January budget proposals to extend, modify, and expand emergency spending authorities to continue to respond to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Finally, we recommend ways to improve the oversight of emergency spending for COVID-19 as well as future emergencies.
February 23, 2021 - The Governor's proposed 2021-22 appropriation for the Board of Equalization (BOE) is $31.8 million, 30 percent higher than the amount spent in 2019-20. Due to vacancies, BOE spent just $24.5 million of its $31.3 million appropriation in 2019-20. This post discusses issues for the Legislature to consider as it decides how much to appropriate for BOE in the 2021-22 budget.
February 22, 2021 - This publication provides our analysis of the Governor's 2021-22 January budget proposals to transfer responsibility for most cannabis regulatory responsibilities from the Bureau of Cannabis Control, California Department of Public Health, and California Department of Food and Agriculture to a new department—the Department of Cannabis Control.
February 18, 2021 - This publication assesses the Governor's 2021-22 January budget proposals for the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
February 17, 2021 - This publication discusses the Governor's 2021-22 budget proposal to create a tiered pesticide mill assessment, as well as the proposal for increased spending on regulatory activities and integrated pest management programs administered by the Department of Pesticide Regulation and California Department of Food and Agriculture.