California governor wants reserves and cuts to fix nearly $38B deficit, mostly sparing schools
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is announcing a $291 billion state spending plan with an estimated $37.9 billion deficit
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California's budget deficit is not as bad as previously thought, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday, but it's deep enough that it could delay a minimum wage increase for more than 400,000 health care workers and force spending cuts across various housing and climate programs.
Newsom vowed not to roll back his previous major spending commitments — including free kindergarten for all 4-year-olds and free health insurance for all low-income adults regardless of their immigration status. But he wants the Legislature to consider delaying a planned minimum wage increase for health care workers in years when there isn’t enough money in the budget to pay for it — something Newsom said lawmakers agreed to in advance before he signed the law last year.
Newsom stopped short of calling California’s budget deficit a “crisis.” But his plan to cover the deficit includes pulling more than $13 billion from the state’s reserves — an action that will require him to declare a “fiscal emergency.” His plan includes $8.5 billion in spending cuts, with about half of those cuts spread across various housing and climate programs.
