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October 3, 2022 - Presented to: Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation
August 8, 2022 - California's Unemployment Insurance (UI) program provides wage replacement to unemployed workers. The program has faltered during recent downturns, causing hardship for workers and their families, holding back the state's economic recovery, and spurring frustration among Californians with their government. Recent failures trace back to the UI program's basic design, which results in more emphasis being placed on limiting fraud and business costs than making sure eligible workers get benefits quickly and easily. Although this emphasis is not new, the pandemic has highlighted the need to rebalance the UI program. We recommend about a dozen targeted changes to state practices to place a greater priority on getting payments to eligible unemployed workers.
August 2, 2022 - Presented to: Senate Committee on Health Assembly Committee on Health
June 24, 2022 - Chapter 837 of 2019 (SB 34, Wiener) established new tax exemptions for donations of medicinal cannabis. The law directs our office to submit an annual report containing data on three outcomes related to the exemptions: the number of medicinal cannabis patients served, the amount of medicinal cannabis products donated, and the amount of tax revenue lost. This report fulfills that statutory requirement for 2021.
May 12, 2022 - In response to increasing prices across the economy—particularly fuel prices—the Legislature is contemplating a number of policies for providing fiscal relief to Californians. In this post, we identify key questions for the Legislature to consider when analyzing the merits of the options proposed by the Governor and in designing its own relief package.
March 29, 2022 - Presented to the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 4 on State Administration and the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy.
March 22, 2022 - Assembly Budget Subcommittee #4 on State Administration
March 1, 2022 - Presented to: Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 4 On State Administration
February 22, 2022 - Presented to: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee #4 on State Administration and General Government
February 11, 2022 - This post provides some background about the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), describes the Governor’s budget proposal for GO-Biz, and offers comments and issues for the Legislature to consider.
January 26, 2022 - This 2022-23 budget post provides background on federal COVID-19 business assistance programs and describes the Governor’s proposal to modify state tax laws as they relate to some of these grant programs. This post also provides some comments to the Legislature on the Governor’s proposal.
January 26, 2022 - This 2022-23 budget post provides background on temporary limits on the use of net operating loss deductions and business tax credits. It describes the Governor’s proposal to lift these limits one year early and provides some comments to the Legislature.
December 1, 2021 - Chapter 226 of 2019 (AB 321, Patterson) created a sales and use tax exemption for certain truck deliveries. The law also directs our office to submit a biannual report measuring the number of truck deliveries affected by the new exemption. This post describes our attempts to fulfill this requirement.