Article Source:  CSDA

By: @Marcus Detwiler

Per existing law, within 30 days after enactment of the annual State Budget Act, the California Department of Finance must notify local agencies of any statute or executive order, or portion thereof, for which operation of a state mandate is suspended because reimbursement is not provided for that fiscal year pursuant to California Government Code section 17581 and Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution. The latter provision was added by voters in 1979 with the passage of Proposition 4.

The 30-day countdown associated with this requirement on the Department of Finance began when the 2025-26 State Budget was signed on June 27.

Following the enactment of the State Budget, and consistent with the law described above, the Department of Finance has begun the process of notifying local agencies of the specific mandates that are suspended.

Local agencies are not required to implement or give effect to any mandate that is suspended— per the California Constitution, “[…] for a mandate for which the costs of a local government claimant have been determined in a preceding fiscal year to be payable by the State pursuant to law, the Legislature shall either appropriate, in the annual Budget Act, the full payable amount that has not been previously paid, or suspend the operation of the mandate for the fiscal year for which the annual Budget Act is applicable in a manner prescribed by law.”

Given that the 2025-26 State Budget did not provide funding for the implementation of all existing state mandates identified as reimbursable, several mandates are now legally suspended.


The list of mandates that have been suspended can be reviewed here.