5 things to know about Governor Newsom’s giant budget deal with the legislature

Laurel Rosenhall, Samea Kamal, Manuela Tobias | Cal Matters

California state legislatures are breaking records this week, reflecting a new deal with Gov. Gavin Newsom to expand care for undocumented immigrants, make homelessness easier and help Californians suffer from a pandemic. Voted to approve the state budget of.

The $ 262.6 billion spending plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1 was supported by a state surplus of $ 76 billion and $ 27 billion in federal aid. The Democrats who control Parliament are the States The coronavirus pandemic and its uneven damage to Californians.

The state’s top earners continued to benefit from the strength of the stock market, booming tech sector, and rising home prices, while low-wage Californians continued to gain from unemployment, reduced child care and dysfunctional unemployment insurance. I was suffering from the system. The state’s progressive tax structure has allowed Newsam and lawmakers to inject billions of dollars, mostly from wealthy taxpayers, into social service programs for the poor middle class.

“We are investing in the unprecedented challenges facing the state, such as meeting the needs of hardworking people, acting by the rules and achieving few goals,” Newsam said. ..

The pandemic and its economic impact not only colored the state’s budget negotiations, but also disrupted the political situation in California this year and sparked Republican-backed efforts to eliminate Newsom. negotiations.

Here are five things you need to know about California’s new spending plans:

The budget is not completely complete

Despite this year’s huge record budget and Democrats holding all power in Sacramento, Newsom and the legislative leaders couldn’t come to an agreement on everything. They did not issue an official statement announcing a wide range of budget transactions, although the bill was printed to reflect some new agreements. Change of placeholder budget adviser approved on June 14.

The usual lack of courage indicates that even if this budget meets the legal requirements for developing a spending plan by July 1, important negotiations will continue. Some major expenses may be approved later this summer through a special type of special expense act known as the “Budget Trailer Bill”.

For example, they haven’t decided exactly how to spend billions of dollars to deal with the threat posed by wildfires and droughts. The budget includes $ 1 billion over the years to prevent wildfires, $ 3 billion to alleviate droughts and $ 3.7 billion over three years to mitigate the dangers of climate change, but Newsome. And legislative leaders are always thinking about how to spend the money.

The budget does not include spending on the controversial California bullet train project to link San Francisco and Los Angeles. May Newsom’s Proposal Spends $ 4.2 Billion Bond Fund to Complete Construction of Central Valley Critics have ridiculed it as a ‘train going nowhere’ and are heading to launch a service between Merced and Bakersfield. But the legislator pushed back, I left the money out of my budget.

“We seem to be in the head of a loggerhead turtle with elements within the executive,” Speaker of Parliament Anthony Rendon told Cal Matters.

Members of Congress and Newsom also couldn’t agree on how to expand broadband service in California. This is an infrastructure need that was revealed to millions of people during the pandemic. People were transferred to a remote school for work, but had poor internet connectivity … The budget includes $ 6 billion to expand broadband, but the details have yet to be hatched.

Childcare funds are always on the move

When he took office in 2018, ‘Governor Daddy’ Newsom campaigned for support for family and early childhood education. However, childcare, including the wage rates of some providers, was the latest commitment in budget negotiations. Rendon told reporters.. And many details have yet to be resolved.

A significant part was resolved on June 25. In its first deal with a new supplier union, the state approved funding to train and license more suppliers, in addition to the first pay rise in five years. Union, He said the increase of at least 15% would start in 2022.

Child Care Provider United – Recognized as a union in 2019 Bill signed by Newsom – A rally on Capitol Hill, attended by Lendon and Senate Leader Toni Atkins, pressured the governor to sign a bill requiring an additional $ 1 billion to increase.

Newsom’s team pushed back, officials familiar with budget negotiations, Politico said, worried about the impact of interest rate hikes in the absence of cash surplus in the state.

Wage rates rise when California’s child care industry is hit hard. During the pandemic, around 8,500 people were granted permits. Childcare site closed. It required tens of thousands of places for children in need of care when their parents were at work or at school. We have also hired thousands of women of color, who make up the majority of the child care workforce.

The agreement will also increase the number of child care spaces available by 200,000 over the next four years, including 120,000 from 2021 to 2010.

A significant expansion of healthcare

Having agreed to be offered by Newsom and lawmakers, California has taken another step towards achieving universal health insurance with this budget. Medi-Cal health insurance Undocumented resident over 50 years old.

It is the latest extension of the Democratic Party’s long-standing efforts to allow illegal immigrants to participate in state-sponsored medical programs for low-income people. The previous budget opened the program to undocumented children and a 26-year-old young adult.

This year, Newsom proposed targeting undocumented residents over 60 for Medi-Cal, but the state legislature wanted to offer it to residents over 50. .. Key Question: Covering more people’s medical care commits the government to current expenses that may not be affordable in a future recession.

Supporters said the budget would make California the first state in the country to offer government health insurance to undocumented migrants by the age of fifty. Not eligible for Medi-Cal if there is a small savings in the bank.

Also the local public health sector – Tired after a year of dealing with resident testimonials on COVID-19 tests, vaccinations and business closures – You have secured new funds within your budget.

Newsome did not initially offer significant funding to rebuild the state’s public health infrastructure, but the state legislature turned to the local public health sector to add staff and modernize equipment. I wanted to add $ 200 million per year. After all, the budget gives them $ 300 million a year, but delays payments until 2022.

Over billions to fight homelessness

Legislative leaders and Newsom came to the same page on how much to spend on homeless people and affordable housing. That’s a total of $ 12 billion over the next two years. But they made some concessions on how exactly to use all those billions.

In the proposed budget, the legislature made ongoing funding a top priority. They provided stable funding for four years, with cities and counties funding $ 1 billion a year to fight homelessness. The important thing was flexibility. Local courts can accurately determine what works best. Moved by Governor There is no money for this.

The compromise was split in the middle. In local jurisdictions, it’s $ 1 billion a year over two years instead of four. It is, to date, the largest recurring fundraising fund for the homeless in California. The funding will be reassessed in the third year and rules need to be established as to who will get the money and how it should be spent to ensure accountability and results.

The budget contract includes $ 1.75 billion to build an affordable unprocessed housing project for excavators, $ 300 million to maintain existing affordable rental housing and construction of housing for farm workers. And also includes $ 130 million for maintenance.

Earlier this month, Newsom and legislative leaders said Extending the statewide moratorium on evictions until September 30, we will use $ 5.2 billion from the federal government to speed up the bailout of rents.

Democrats leverage spending to fight Newsom recall

California Recovers From Pandemic Newsome’s Job Approval Rises In polls, Democrats have been pushing for ballot recall sooner Not later. They included $ 250 million in their budget to cover the costs of holding special elections to facilitate the process. They also drafted budget related bills that set the stage for early election days By allowing Congress to skip the 30-day financial review period if Congress has already secured funds to cover election expenses. .

And when Newsom fought to stick with his job, he used the budgeting process to show voters his priorities. In May, he stormed the state. Announced a multibillion-dollar budget nugget in all major media markets when he announced California was “moaning” of the pandemic. In June, it was the first TV commercial for its anti-recall campaign – showcasing the same ‘roaring’ brand and focusing on the same budget items: funding to accommodate 65,000 homeless, stimulus payments of $ 600 for most Californians and for small businesses $ 4 billion. grant.

“Newsam is bringing money in your pocket,” the advertisement reads. “And free pre-kindergarten for all California kids, regardless of income.”

Republicans spend months blasting Newsom’s response to pandemic – Governor slammed “throwing taxpayer money” away with many problems he created in the first place. “

Cal Matters is a public service journalism firm that strives to explain how the California State Capitol works and why it matters.

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