New Legislative Analyst
to Provide
“November Report” Five-Year Forecast
Mac Taylor, Deputy Legislative Analyst, has been appointed to succeed retiring Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill. Taylor is currently one of two deputies in the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) and has been with the LAO for 30 years. He currently oversees capital outlay; economics, taxation, and fiscal forecasting; education; local government; and state administration. Taylor’s areas of expertise include intergovernmental issues, overall State Budget, and public finance. He received his BA in Political Science from the University of California, Riverside, and his MA in Public Affairs from Princeton University.
The highly regarded Elizabeth Hill, who retires on October 24, 2008, served as Legislative Analyst for 22 years. Her replacement was announced by Senator Denise Ducheny (D-San Diego), chair of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, which oversees the LAO.
The Legislative Analyst’s Office will have the first official statement on the dimensions of the current fiscal crisis when it releases its assessment of the 2008-09 Budget and the out-year implications of the economic slowdown. The LAO’s “November Report” provides a five-year forecast of state revenues and expenditures and has, in recent years, called attention to the state’s growing structural budget gap. Given the slowdown in the economy and the credit crisis following the collapse of numerous financial institutions, the Legislature and the Administration will look to the LAO’s forecast—now under Taylor’s leadership—to quantify the magnitude of the state’s challenges.
We at SSC congratulate Mac Taylor on this appointment and wish him well in his new role.
—Terry Anderson and Robert Miyashiro