Budget
Governor Newsom released his revised 2023-24 California State Budget, or May Revise, this morning. The revised $306 billion ($224 billion General Fund) budget largely preserves core investments in key programs including healthcare, housing, education, environmental protection and infrastructure. Newsom stated that “as a consequence of California’s prudence, we are in a position to preserve, enhance and protect the programs that we all hold dear.”
Although the Governor acknowledged future economic uncertainties and volatility in the state’s tax system, the revised budget does NOT anticipate a recession nor increased tax proposals. This is despite a projected $9.3 billion shortfall increase, bringing the total estimated deficit to $31.5 billion. The May Revise sets aside $37.2 billion in reserves, including $22.3 billion in the state’s Rainy Day Fund, and does not propose to withdraw any funds from reserves to cover the shortfall. This is largely to save those funds for potential future risks to the state’s fiscal situation, including potential fallout from the federal debt limit impasse, higher interest rates, and recent bank failures.
Perhaps the biggest uncertainty revolves around extended income tax filing deadlines, with a delay of an anticipated $42 billion in tax receipts until October. To address the deficit, the May Revise proposes some additional spending delays, deferrals, and fund shifts compared to the January budget. This includes $6.7 billion in spending reductions and pullbacks, which will largely impact unused funds; delaying an additional $695 million across the multi-year without reducing the total amount of funding through the same period; $3.3 billion in shifts of spending commitments; and $3.7 billion in revenue and borrowing.
In terms of next steps, the Legislature will now review the new and additional proposals in the May Revision. They must pass a balanced budget by June 15th and the Governor must sign by July 1st.
Legislative
AB 742 (Jackson) the prohibition on the use of police k-9’s is awaiting its fate in Assembly Appropriations committee, and we will know what happens to the bill this week. If the bill moves from Appropriations, it will then go to the Assembly Floor, where we will continue to oppose and hope to successfully stop it.
AB 740 (Gabriel) which would ban the use of drones using DJI technology in the State of California. This bill would have had a large wide sweeping impact on public safety, grounding most drone fleets in the State. We successfully stopped this bill in Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review Committee. We will continue to keep you updated on this bill next year in the event it comes back.
