SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) --- After a year of pandemic-induced sweeping budget cuts that ripped billions from schools and popular social programs, a spending spree is on tap in California.
Capping a dramatic turnaround in which the state morphed a record-high deficit into an unprecedented surplus, California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday proposed a mammoth $267 billion budget built on a conveniently timed $100 billion windfall. The plan represents a $40 billion increase from his initial January proposal and includes $196 billion in general fund spending.
The flush spending plan --- which comes as Newsom is actively fending off a recall election --- is stocked with $600 checks to taxpayers, major education gains, record homelessness spending and billions to ward off climate change and wildfires. The Democratic governor says the state can afford the ambitious spending plan thanks to an unexpected $76 billion surplus and $26 billion more in federal Covid-19 aid.
Newsom said the budget bill will “set the state up for not just a comeback, but an extraordinary decade, arguably century ahead.”
Friday’s budget reveal ends a week-long media blitz in which Newsom painted his expansive --- and expensive --- vision for the Golden State’s pandemic comeback.
On Monday, Newsom dropped a bombshell revelation that the state’s finances had experienced a $125 billion reversal and proposed sending $12 billion worth of “stimulus checks” to taxpayers. He would go on to pitch $12 billion to confront homelessness, $4 billion in small business grants, universal transitional kindergarten and college savings accounts for millions of kids and billions more to increase broadband internet service.
The array of budget proposals were announced at a dizzying pace in cities like Los Angeles, Oakland and Sacramento in a what could easily be construed as campaign stops.
Newsom, 53, is coining his strategy as the “California Comeback Plan."
Friday’s proposal kicks off the final round of negotiations between Newsom and lawmakers, and regardless of the final product which must be submitted by June 15, it will be a sharp contrast to the current version crafted last summer during the height of the pandemic.
Instead of an ambitious spending budget full of new spending, Newsom was forced to come to terms with a jarring $54 billion deficit.
Newsom and Democratic lawmakers eventually compromised on a $202 billion spending bill that relied on deferring payments meant for schools and pulling from the state’s rainy day fund to patch the dried-up tax revenues. They cast the plan, which included major cuts to social programs, the judiciary and state worker salaries, as “pragmatic” and a boost for Main Street.
This time around, many of the cuts are being restored and extended, specifically for K-12 and higher education.
Up $17 billion from January’s proposal, K-12 funding spikes to a record $121 billion and boosts total per pupil spending to $21,152. The plan calls for a flood of new teachers, 100,000 subsidized day care slots and assumes schools will return full in-person instruction in the fall.
Newsom, a father of four, encouraged school districts to “reimagine” public education and if necessary extend the length of the traditional year to make up for lost classroom learning. To help bridge the digital divide, he wants to divvy $7 billion in federal dollars to improve broadband access in rural areas.
“Broadband for all, let’s do this,” Newsom said.
Not to be left out, state colleges and universities also won big in the spending spree.
Under the proposal, the University of California and California State University systems see a $2.3 billion boost, and figure to receive more in future federal funds. In addition, Newsom wants to spend $433 million to transform Humboldt State University into the state’s third polytechnic university, a move he says will help “transform” the economy in the northern part of the state.
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