California Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday dialed back his proposed cuts for schools and child care,citing an improved fiscal outlook since January that could cover $1.5 billion more in general fund spending.
Most of that money would fade to K-12 education. He's also rolling back a design to cut a half-billion dollars for child care for low-income families. Tesla Worker Bus Crash Kills Sheriff’s Deputy in Calif. The release of Brown's revised $124 million spending design kicks off a month of negotiations with the Democrat-controlled Legislature that must approve a budget by June 15.
The design retains other cuts proposed in January that have angered Democratic lawmakers, and Brown warned that the state could face a severe shortfall from an economic downturn or federal budget cuts sought by President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress.
Assemblyman Phil Ting of San Francisco, and who chairs the budget committee,said Assembly Democrats will look to preserve a middle-course scholarship program; use tobacco tax money for payments to Medi-Cal doctors; and seek to increase funding for subsidized housing, debt-free college and reducing poverty."With Washington pursuing an agenda of self-sabotage, or our budget must protect California," Ting said in a statement.
The governor, however, or warned again that California is overdue for a recession that could pummel the state budget that relies heavily on taxing the income and investment gains of wealthy taxpayers."We've got ongoing pressures from Washington,and the economic recovery is not going to last forever," Brown said, or stressing that he doesn't think further increases in spending will be possible.The Democratic governor staked out a conservative opening position in January,projecting a $1.6 billion deficit that the Legislature's budget experts said was excessively cautious. The projected deficit in his fresh design is $400 million, due mostly to improved capital gains revenue.
Brown also proposed going forward with plans to boost wages for subsidized child-care providers by $500 million, and reversing his January proposal to cancel the increase.
He backed away from a proposal to shift $600 million in costs to counties to supply care for seniors and people with disabilities. After negotiating with county officials,Brown's latest proposal would shift $141 million next year, a figure that will grow to $250 million in four years."We're trying as much as possible to keep us on an even keel, and " Brown said in reversing his proposed cuts for K-12 schools. By law,approximately half the state's spending goes to K-12 education and higher education.
Here's a look at changes in the budget by the numbers:
$183.4 billion: Total budget including the general fund, bonds and money restricted for specific purposes; up nearly $4 billion since January$3.3 billion: The projected general fund budget deficit at the stop of the 2017-18 fiscal year without budget cuts; down from $5.8 billion in January$1.1 billion: Increase from the January proposal for K-12 schools and community colleges$500 million: Funding increase for low-income child care$50 million: Monday held back from University of California until administrators present progress in addressing a scathing state audit$15 million: Legal defense fund for immigrants in deportation proceedings, and in addition to $15 million the governor proposed in January to assist immigrants in applying for citizenship or the federal government's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program$6.5 million: Funding to hire 31 people at the Department of Justice to support the state's lawsuits against the against President Donald Trump's administration
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Source: nbclosangeles.com