Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom released his proposed budget for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. The new spending plan has been shaved down from last year’s record-breaking $308 billion budget to address the predicted $20 billion deficit projected by the State’s Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO). The Governor’s proposal does not include tapping into the state’s reserve funds to close the budget shortfall. See a detailed analysis here.
While the proposal continues to fund many of the commitments that Newsom has made in his tenure as Governor, including Medi-Cal spending for the undocumented, it delays spending commitments on some infrastructure and transportation projects and the planned expansion of subsidized childcare slots.
The state will continue to fulfill its current commitments to combat human trafficking, serve youth in foster care, and begin the CARE Court process, an initiative approved by the legislature last year that allows judges to require mental health treatment for the homeless.
The Budget includes the $200 million promised last year for abortion expansion through clinic infrastructure, scholarships and loan repayments, grants to cover uninsured and underinsured abortion services, and abortion practice support. It also adds $185 million in federal funds and $15 million from the general fund to invest in “family planning and reproductive health” services system transformation.
To combat the ongoing opioid crisis, Newsom included new revenues of almost $100 million to provide Naloxone to all middle and high schools and community distribution to first responders, law enforcement, and community-based organizations.
This year’s education budget increases last year’s highest-ever per-pupil spending for California by almost $1,000 to $23,723. However, the rate of inflation reduces the spending power of the increase. The overall budget for California’s k-12 schools is $1.5 billion lower than last year’s budget, a product of the Prop. 98 formula required to calculate education spending and reduced state revenues. State and UC schools will see a 5% increase in their budgets, consistent with the required increases.