Gov. Gavin Newsom will present his revised budget proposal Friday morning. We will update this story with more details on his proposal after its release.
After spending the week touring the state and promoting a $100 billion pandemic recovery package — bolstered by a stunning $75.7 billion surplus and additional federal dollars — California Gov. Gavin Newsom will present the rest of his revised budget in Sacramento Friday.
The spending plan will be an updated version of Newsom’s January budget, which proposed $227 billion in spending. The revised budget will be even larger, to incorporate the surplus and $27 billion in federal pandemic relief approved in March.
The budget is an outline of Newsom’s proposed spending priorities, but not a final product. Here's how the process works:
- The state Constitution requires the governor to submit a balanced budget proposal by Jan. 10, which Newsom did Jan. 8. It was then introduced as identical budget bills in the state Assembly and Senate.
- By May 14, the governor presents a revised budget proposal, which is what Newsom is doing Friday. This is sometimes called the "May Revise." The governor will spend the next several weeks negotiating with state lawmakers over a final spending plan.
- The Legislature must pass a budget by June 15. The governor is required to sign it by June 30.
A $100B “California Comeback” package
Part of Newsom’s budget will be a massive economic recovery package he has spent the past week promoting.
It includes:
- $12 billionto send $600 stimulus checks to Californians earning up to $75,000 a year who did not receive a check from the state’s first round of relief funds. Families and undocumented residents will receive $500 extra.
- Another $12 billion to tackle homelessness, including $8.75 billion to build affordable housing and buy up properties under the state’s project Homekey initiative and $1.5 billion in cleanup and beautification projects near highways.
- $20 billion to “reimagine public schools.” Proposals include $4 billion over five years to provide behavioral health treatment to all Californians under the age of 25, $2.7 billion to extend transitional kindergarten to every 4-year-old, and $2 billion to create $500 college savings accounts for millions of children.
- $5 billion in drought mitigation and water infrastructure repairs.
- $1.5 billion to add another round of small business grants up to $25,000, for a total of $4 billion in small business aid.
Some of the governor’s proposals have already been approved by the Legislature, including a first round of stimulus checks to low-income families, $6.2 billion in tax cuts for some small businesses and $6.6 billion in incentives for schools to bring students back to classrooms.
