Mr. Brown quoted Aesop’s fable “The Ant and the Grasshopper”, in which the ant prepares for days of necessity during good times, and invoked the memory of the state’s $26 billion budget deficit five years ago.
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“We look forward to engaging with the Governor to ensure that this year’s budget will includes a meaningful investment in affordable housing”. And the state’s new $15-an-hour minimum wage will be phased in for many on the state payroll over the next few years.
Senate Democrats had asked for the $2 billion to fight homelessness.
Previous estimates put the state’s road maintenance backlog at $60 billion, and the state Transportation Commission has warned that state funding for road projects will dry up unless more money is found.
Brown resisted calls by some lawmakers to boost spending on programs and services for needy families, but he did endorse a “creative” plan crafted by Senate Democrats to combat chronic homelessness among the mentally ill.
Brown’s spending plan for the 2016-17 fiscal year was down slightly from his January proposal after he projected tax revenues falling $1.9 billion below earlier expectations because of stock market fluctuations. That’s up $455 million from his January proposal.
The 77-year-old governor, who also led the state from 1975 to 1983, has been notoriously tight-fisted since returning to office in 2011, reining in spending proposals by the state’s liberal Democratic majority lawmakers to build a rainy day fund and hold down expenses after facing down a $27 billion budget deficit.
Brown lamented that managing state budgets “is like riding a tiger” and that past governors, including Gray Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger, didn’t exactly succeed at the risky game.
By law, about half the state’s spending goes to K-12 education and higher education.
But he expressed disappointment that Brown had not yet agreed to repeal a “discriminatory” provision of the CalWorks program for low-income mothers that prevents them from receiving extra cash aid when they give birth while receiving welfare.
“It is counterproductive to continue providing funding for housing under a system, which slows down approvals in areas already vetted and zoned for housing, which only delays development and increases costs”, the revised budget states. The budget includes $334 million for a variety of drought programs, including rebates for people who buy water-efficient appliances, enhanced fire protection and food assistance to farm workers in parts of the San Joaquin Valley where croplands had to be fallowed due to lack of water.
Original Post: Gov. Jerry Brown will release an updated California budget proposal this morning – and he’s expected to issue a fresh call to limit new spending. “That’s a great step, but we need to make sure their parents are enrolled as well”, Wright said.
Staff writer Joyce Tsai and Gary Richards contributed to this report. Follow her at Twitter.com/Calefati.
However, Brown’s seen no progress on his call to raise gas taxes and vehicle fees for maintaining crumbling highways. The spending plan also increases the diesel tax by 11 cents and adjusts it for inflation. The May Revision provides $2.9 billion in new funding, bringing the formula’s implementation to almost 96 percent complete. The Budget keeps tuition at 2011-12 levels and commits $25 million in new one-time funding for the California State University to reduce the time it takes a student to successfully complete a degree.
The governor did embrace a demand from Senate Democrats to divert $2 billion in voter-approved mental health funding for housing for the homeless, a growing problem in California. Brown to begin depositing some of the state’s surplus into a rainy-day reserve fund.
Accounting for the full implementation costs, the General Fund has incurred new obligations in the effort to counteract the effects of poverty totaling more than $19 billion (about $10.7 billion of which will be paid for through Proposition 98 funds).
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Aerial surveys done previous year put the number of dead and dying trees at about 29 million from the Sierra-Nevada mountains to the Pacific Coast, including Los Padres National Park.
