January 26, 2023
Golden State Republican Women
Janet Price, President
Submitted by the GSRW Legislative Analyst Committee
Karen Contreras, Lou Ann Flaherty and Elaine Freeman
GOVERNOR NEWSOM DRAFT 2023-2024 BUDGET
The Governor is required by law to have a draft budget each year by mid-January with the final budget required to be approved by the State Legislature by mid-June. The draft budget allows the State of California to operate and deal with legislation on spending bills. Even after approval of the final budget, the Legislature can pass spending bills known as trailer bills which do not have to be reviewed through the committee bill process.
NEW 2023-2024 BUDGET
$297 BILLION (State’s reserve “rainy day fund” of $35 Billion is untouched.)
This represents a DEFICIT of $22.5 BILLION
The deficit is being blamed on reduced tax revenue because of the stock market declines, multiple federal reserve bank interest rate increases, continued high inflation and reliance on capital gains.
It should also be noted that in the 2022-23 budget there was a budget surplus of $97.5 billion. This year’s draft budget has a deficit of $22.5 billion. (This actually represents a deficit swing of $102 billion (last year’s surplus plus this year’s deficit.)
Budget items untouched include but are not limited to education and homelessness funding and sustains $44 Billion for statewide infrastructure projects including funding to accelerate the transition to zero-emission vehicles.
It also includes an allocation of $8.5 billion to CAPERS (State Retirement fund) and another $1.2 billion toward the State unfunded liability.
An attempt to balance the budget requires accounting maneuvers that are unclear, hard to identify, and confusing.
They include:
- $7.4 billion in funding delays
- $5 billion in reductions and pullbacks (where and when unknown)
- $4.3 billion in fund shifts
- $3.9 billion in trigger reductions
- items placed in a “trigger” would restore the reductions at the 2024 Governor’s Budget should sufficient funds be made available to cover certain commitments
- $1.2 billion in limited revenue generation and building
Now if this sounds unclear to you, you are not alone because these maneuvers are hard to specifically identify.
The budget and spending will be watched closely by your Legislative Analyst.
To contact your U.S. Representatives, call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121
Legislative Portal links- Express your support or opposition to a bill or directly to the Legislative committee currently reviewing it (as an individual, not as a member of GSRW)– click here, or the bill’s author- click here, enter your bill # and look for tab at top of the bill page labeled “Comments to Author”
