Overview

• Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders agreed to a $310.8-billion budget spending plan that reduces investments in fighting climate change and reflects a compromise on the governor’s last-minute proposal to speed up infrastructure projects across California.
• The budget covers the deficit by cutting some spending, delaying other spending, and shifting some expenses to other funds while borrowing $6.1 billion and setting aside $37.8 billion in reserves, the most ever.
• The budget provides the first reimbursement rate hikes in some cases in more than two decades, adopts a faster timeline to spend the money, and reverses the governor’s call to cut $2 billion to public transit.
• The budget includes new accountability measures for transit and homelessness investments, tax credits for businesses, clean energy projects, and funding for housing programs, public transit agencies, and movie studio safety measures.
• Lawmakers were wary of appearing to simply acquiesce and vote aye, in part because of the precedent it sets for the next round, but Republicans criticized the budget plan as unsustainable.