Staff
Helen Kerstein
(916) 319-8364
Air Quality, Energy, Climate Change, and High-Speed Rail
Sonja Petek
(916) 319-8340
Water, Coastal Development, and Fish and Wildlife
Frank Jimenez
(916) 319-8324
Highways and Roads, Recycling, and Toxics
Rachel Ehlers
(916) 319-8330
Deputy Legislative Analyst: Environment and Transportation


Publications

Environment and Natural Resources

To browse all LAO publications, visit our Publications page.



Handout

Wildfire Spending and Energy Affordability

March 5, 2025 - Assembly Committee on Utilities and Energy


Handout

Proposed Proposition 4 Spending Plan

February 27, 2025 - Presented to: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee No. 2 on Resources, Environmental Protection and Energy


Handout

Cap-and-Trade: Overview and Affordability Considerations

February 26, 2025 - Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies


Brief

The 2025-26 Budget: Various California Air Resources Board Proposals

February 24, 2025 - This brief analyzes various budget proposals from the California Air Resources Board.


Handout

Proposed Proposition 4 Spending Plan

February 19, 2025 - Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 4 on Climate Crisis, Resources, Energy, and Transportation


Brief

The 2025-26 Budget: Natural Resources and Agriculture Discretionary Spending Proposals

February 18, 2025 - This brief discusses three discretionary General Fund spending proposals in the agriculture and natural resources policy areas.


Brief

The 2025-26 Budget: Cap-and-Trade Expenditure Plan

February 12, 2025 - In this brief, we assess the Governor’s cap-and-trade expenditure plan for 2025-26 and provide associated recommendations.


Brief

The 2025-26 Budget: Proposition 4 Spending Plan

February 12, 2025 - This brief assesses the Governor’s proposals to implement Proposition 4, the $10 billion climate bond approved by voters in November 2024.


Post

Frequently Asked Questions About Wildfires in California

January 28, 2025 - This post answers commonly asked questions related to wildfires in the state of California.


Report

The 2025-26 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

January 13, 2025 - Update (1/16/25): A set of tables detailing various solutions and proposals has been appended to the online version of this report. They are available using the HTML link above.

On January 10, 2025, Governor Newsom’s administration presented its proposed state budget to the California Legislature. In this report, we provide a brief summary of the Governor’s budget based on our initial review as of January 12. In the coming weeks, we will analyze the plan in more detail and release many additional issue-specific budget analyses. For those additional analyses, please see our budget page.


Brief

Assessing California’s Climate Policies—Residential Electricity Rates in California

January 7, 2025 - This report explores key questions that frequently emerge around residential electricity rates in California, including why electricity rates are relatively high, some resulting implications for ratepayers and state climate change goals, and notable emerging issues.


Report

CalFacts 2024

December 2, 2024 - CalFacts presents a wide range of facts and trends about the state's economy, finances, and programs.


Post

The 2024-25 California Spending Plan: Resources and Environmental Protection

September 12, 2024 - The 2024‑25 budget package provides a total of $17.8 billion from various fund sources—the General Fund, a number of special funds, bond funds, and federal funds—for the departments overseen by the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) and California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA). This amount represents about half of total 2023‑24 estimated expenditure levels. This significant year-to-year decrease is primarily due to a large amount of one-time funding—mostly from the General Fund—available for the departments within both agencies in 2023‑24, including large amounts of funds carried over from prior years. As discussed in this post, many departments continue to receive some one-time funding augmentations in 2024‑25, but at notably lower aggregate levels. Despite the year-to-year decline in funding, the 2024‑25 totals exceed the historical levels of funding that these agencies received prior to the state experiencing General Fund surpluses in recent years.


Brief

The 2024-25 Budget: CalFire—Implementation of a 66-Hour Workweek

March 19, 2024 - In this brief, we analyze the Governor's proposal to implement a 66-hour workweek for California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection firefighters.


Handout

Overview of Proposed Climate and Transportation Budget Solutions

March 6, 2024 - Presented to: Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 4 on Climate Crisis, Resources, Energy and Transportation