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California’s budget deficit grows to $31.5 billion

May 13, 2023

Gov. Gavin Newsom

By KAREN VELIE

California’s budget deficit grew more than $9 billion since January, to $31.5 billion, Gov. Gavin Newson announced at a press conference on Friday.

Newsom’s revised budget went from $297 billion in January to $306.5 billion. The May revision includes an increase in funding for flood protection.

California’s wealthiest taxpayers, the top 1%, pay about half of the income tax collected by the state. But with the economic downturn and exodus of high-paying tech jobs, revenues are down.

“Due to prudent planning by the administration and the legislature, the May revision holds the line without making significant reductions over the governor’s budget,” according to the revised budget. “However, should broader economic risks materialize, deeper reductions will be necessary.”

While Newsom said he would continue to fund many of his priorities, he plans to cut funding for arts education, vocational training and public transit.

In addition, Newsom said he plans to take $450 million from the state’s safety net reserve, about half the money available, to help with health care programs.

“We are sweeping $450 million from the safety net reserve to help offset costs associated with Medi-Cal and CalWorks,” Newsom said.


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Well, what does that mean for the reparations demands by Newsom’s task force, estimated as over $800 BILLION?:


“Among the recommendations were possible estimates of reparations owed by the state, including:



  • An estimated $13,619 for each year of residency, based on a 71-year life expectancy, for harm caused by health care disparities.

  • An estimated $115, 260 or $2,352 for each year of residency in the state within the 49-year period between 1971 and 2020 to compensate for mass incarceration and overpolicing of Black communities.

  • An estimated $148,099 – or $3,366 for each year between 1933 and 1977 spent as a California resident – to account for discriminatory housing policies.”


1

It means it’s not going to happen. Newsom for all his supposed evils (like vetoing most spending passed by the super left wing legislature?) is not supportive of unaffordable programs. He has said as much publicly…. If you get outside the echo chamber.


0

Why do we allow government to set such a bad example?


9

The recorded bond debt in California is 1.6 trillion and that does not include the unrecorded pension obligation. The city of SLO owes something like 168 million in unfunded pension, imagine what the total is for our sad state?


21

Boomers like to spend money, make someone else pay for it.


-1

Just wait until they figure in the unfunded pension liability… Somewhere North of One Trillion Dollars right now. And that’s according to the LA Times, not exactly a pillar of Conservatism.


37

Why are you surprised as Government never spends YOUR MONEY !! wisely as you always give them more. The fast train to nowhere is a prime example as our electrical grid fails money well spent you say?


34

Of course nobody talks about the overall debt rather just the this years budget deficit.


29

Um, yes, the California debt and deficit equals $31.5 billion. That’s it. According to the Constitution, individual states cannot carry debt. They must solve their issues by either cutting spending or raising taxes. During the term of the last Republican governor, the state did neither and accrued a $91 billion deficit, the largest in state history.


When Democrat Jerry Brown took office in 2010 he balanced the budget with a series of spending cuts and tax hikes. It remained balanced or with a surplus for about 12 years, until this year. Inflation has been a contributing factor to the current deficit as well as the fact the state has delayed income tax filings until October. Most economists persist in saying that California’s economy is strong. Strong enough to rank as the fourth largest economy in the world, after the U.S., China and Japan.


You may be confused with the recent discussion over the federal debt limit which rages in Washington D.C. The federal debt, which can accrue over several years is now at an eye popping $31 trillion. The Biden Administration is asking for the debt ceiling to be raised, but Republicans are insisting on over $5 trillion in cuts, mostly to safety net programs and climate change provisions which were agreed to by bipartisan majorities in the Congress.


While the pandemic contributed negatively to the debt, in only four years, the Trump Administration piled up $7.8 trillion dollars to the debt. The astonishing thing about the Trump debt is that most of his administration was during a time of relative growth when the debt should have been coming down as it had been under the last two years of Obama. Obama still stands as the president who has raised the debt the most in real dollars—over $9 trillion—yet he inherited two wars that had not been accounted for on the nation’s books and the second worst recession in U.S. history. Historians of the future will certainly attribute much of Obama’s debt to the mismanagement of the economy under the Republican administration of George W. Bush.


-65

Hind sight is 20/20. We need to address the future. Bipartisan majorities in congress? I may be wrong, but I think Republicans and independents passed a bill including

spending cuts along with raising the debt ceiling. Throwing it out there as a starting point. Up for negotiation. Biden claims he will veto. No negotiations. Citizens deserve better. Newsome needs to put on his thinking cap and fix California. Isn’t that why the people (Democrats) put him on the job? Let’s go Newsome.


-8

EASY FIX! Hand out about 3 million of those “$10,000 for littering fines”; god knows theres people trashing the state! Same with dog violations, bike violations, traffic violations, etc etc. Gotta, ya know, actually enforce those things Gavin!


18