Details of Governor Newsom’s May Budget Revision
Golden State Stimulus II
Low to Middle Income – $600 one-time stimulus payments to all taxpayers filing a 2020 tax year return with an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less who did not already receive a Golden State Stimulus.
Families -$500 one-team stimulus payment to all taxpayers with an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less with a dependent on their return.
Undocumented families – $500 one-time stimulus payments to all ITIN taxpayers with adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less and a dependent.
$600 one-time payment to households participating in the CalWORKs program, SSI/SSP (Supplemental Security Income/State Supplemental Program for the aged, disabled and blind), and CAPI (Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants).
Housing/Homelessness
To further protect homeowners and renters experiencing unprecedented economic hardships, this budget appropriates another $20 million in Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Funds for the next three years ($60 million total) to the Judicial Council to continue providing legal assistance grants to over 100 legal services and self-help organizations. This will provide free legal services for landlord-tenant issues, including legal assistance for counseling, renter education programs, and preventing evictions and foreclosures.
This May revision includes proposals that would address family homelessness over five years by making significant investments in affordable housing for low-income families with children while simultaneously investing in safety-net programs (including CalWORKs) and health services by leveraging Medicaid. The budget includes $475 million General Fund to expand the existing CalWORKs Housing Support Program, which assists families experiencing homelessness to secure and maintain permanent housing and services.
It also has $280 million in General Fund to expand the existing Bringing Families Home Program, which provides housing-related supports to eligible families experiencing homelessness in the child welfare system.
As the state continues to deploy resources for permanent housing for those who have participated in the Homekey Program, there is a $150 million one-time funding to support the stability of the state’s non-congregate shelter population and transition of individuals from Project Roomkey into permanent housing.
This budget includes an additional $2.75 billion in one-time funds over two years (total $3.5 billion) for the Homekey Program. Of this amount, $1 billion will be specifically targeted to families experiencing homelessness or at risk of being homeless.
In total, this May revision includes more than $9.3 billion in housing resources and $6.8 billion in homelessness resources.
Immigration Services
This year’s May Revise included an additional 50 million for immigration services. Half of that amount will be used for unaccompanied minors (UUM), and the remaining half will be used for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and naturalization filing fees. Both items are one-time allocations and still need approval by the Legislature.
Environmental Justice
The revision includes $1.47 billion over two years to expand and protect water supplies by protecting drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, supporting local groundwater supply projects and planning, cleaning up contaminated groundwater, support water recycling projects, and installing treatments on drinking water wells contaminated by PFAS.
Proposes to further advance the Governor’s goal of building a climate-resilient California with an additional $1.3 billion General Fund over multiple years ($784 million in 2021-22) in projects and programs to support disadvantaged and low-income communities who are often the hardest hit by climate change and other health, environmental and economic challenges.
May revision proposes an additional $641 million over two years in strategic investments to support California’s agriculture industry. It addresses continued challenges while also producing nutritious food and advancing the state’s climate resilience objectives.
This budget invests in expanding environmental education, enhancing safe, reliable access to state parks, public lands, coasts, and other natural, historic and cultural resources. It increases recreation opportunities such as outdoor education, statewide park development, and launching a state parks pilot to expand parks pass distribution, especially for youth in disadvantaged communities.
The budget proposal also includes an additional $200 million over two years, combined with $300 million in the Governor’s budget to accelerate the clean-up of contaminated properties in impacted communities.
$130 million one-time General Fund to support the development of infrastructure required to process recyclables and manufacture products from recyclable materials.
Investments in Disadvantaged Communities
Edible Food Recovery. — $5 million for Food Waste Prevention and Rescue Grant Program to establish new or expand existing food waste prevention projects to reduce landfill methane emissions and benefit disadvantaged communities.
Composting Opportunities— $5 million to create or expand community composting opportunities and jobs that serve disadvantaged communities.
Restorative Justice
The adult prison population has steadily declined over many years, presenting opportunities for CDCR to eliminate its reliance on contract prison capacity. CDCR terminated its final remaining contract to house incarcerated persons out of state in June 2019. In addition, CDCR terminated six of the seven in-state contracts by October 2020, and this budget reflects closing the final in-state contracted facility by May 2021. The Department plans to close Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy by Sept. 2021 and close the California Correctional Center in Susanville by June 30, 2022.
The administration is committed to increasing access to rehabilitation and recent programs to improve post-release outcomes for incarcerated individuals and reduce recidivism. This budget proposes $23.2 million General Fund in 2021-22 and $18.4 million ongoing, to further these efforts by enabling CDCR to purchase 37,000 laptops and support associated information technology infrastructure to provide incarcerated individuals with greater access to educational programs and opportunities both inside and outside the classroom.
The budget provides Increased visitation opportunities. Visitation provides incarcerated persons with the opportunity to establish and maintain a continuum of social support, including parent-child relationships, which are critical for successful re-entry. Unfortunately, the pandemic necessitated the temporary suspension of in-person visiting. The CDCR then provided incarcerated persons with the ability to correspond with loved ones through free telephone and video visitation opportunities.
The May revision includes $20.3 million in ongoing General Funds to add a third day of in-person visitation on Fridays at all institutions (visiting is currently limited to Saturdays and Sundays). In addition, this funding will provide visitors with free transportation on select days throughout the year to all prisons via chartered busses.
Mental Health— Psychiatric Inpatient Program (PIP)will receive $37.7 million in General Fund in 2021-22 and $35.9 million ongoing and 264 positions to standardize staffing models across the five CDCR-operated PIPs. This includes resources to add clinicians, nurses, custody staff, and administrative staff to provide the comprehensive suite of services necessary to best serve PIP patients.
Includes $3.1 million ongoing General Fund to increase the number of Board of Parole Hearing Commissioners from 17 to 21 to alleviate the significant backlog of hearings and maintain a consistent level of service as the number of hearings continues to rise.
Includes $1.3 million ongoing General Fund to deliver services for victims during the parole process. This will also enable CDCR to expand existing initiatives such as the Victim Offender Dialogue Program.
Closing of DJJ – SB 823 in 2020 established the Juvenile Justice Realignment Block Grant Program, which will result in annual appropriations to be allocated to counties to serve realigned youth. S.B. 92 (2021) specifies a closure date for DJJ of June 30, 2023, and requires DJJ to develop a plan by January 1, 2022, for the transfer of remaining DJJ youth. Office of Youth and Community Restoration receives $7.6 million General Fund in 2021-22, and $7.2 million ongoing General Fund for 33 positions to stand up the OYCR and perform the core functions laid out in SB 823.
California Violence Intervention and Prevention Program – CalVIP, includes an additional $100 million one-time General Fund across the next three fiscal years for BSCC to expand this program which provides competitive grants to cities and community-based organizations to support services such as community education, diversion programs, outreach to at-risk transitional age youth and violence reduction models.
Prop. 47 savings – Voters passed Prop 47 in 2014, which requires misdemeanor rather than felony sentencing for certain property and drug crimes. Department of Finance currently estimates net General Fund savings of $116.2 million with an increase of $1.4 million. These funds are to be allocated according to the following formula: 65% for grants to public agencies to support various recidivism re-education programs (such as mental health and substance abuse services), 25% for grants to support truancy and dropout prevention programs, and 10% for grants for victim services.
Office of Emergency Services – proposes a $50 million one-time General Fund allocation for the California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program to assist nonprofit organizations that have historically been targets of hate-motivated violence.
The budget includes $100 million one-time General Funds to OES to supplement federal funding supporting a variety of services for domestic violence victims. Domestic violence and sexual abuse have increased during the pandemic. Police data across the U.S. indicated a 10-27 percent increase in domestic violence during the pandemic.
Health Services
The pandemic has exacerbated behavioral health conditions for children and youth. Absent action, these conditions will grow and intensify with more young people emerging with untreated anxiety, depression, psychosis, and new substance use disorders. This budget includes $1 billion from the federal American Rescue Plan Acts Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund (ARPA) in 2021-22 and $1.7 billion ongoing for the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative.
Age-Friendly State for Older Individuals — May revision includes $69 million in 2021-22 and $1 billion ongoing to expand Medi-Cal, including In-Home Supportive Services, to undocumented adults aged 60 and older effective May 1, 2022.
Includes $106 million General Fund available over three years to strengthen older adults’ recovery and resilience from isolation and health impacts caused by the pandemic.
CalFresh Expansion – $2 million ($1.1 milling General Fund) ongoing for the Department of Aging to continue CalFresh Expansion outreach efforts to older adults.
Housing and Disability Advocacy Program — May revision includes $175 million General Fund through 2023-24 to assist disabled individuals who are experiencing homelessness.
Community Care – includes $500 million in both 2021-22 and 2022-23 for the construction and acquisition and/or rehabilitation of adults and seniors in care facilities who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless and will further stabilize these facilities with physical upgrades and capital improvements.
Human Services
CalWORKs grant increase — reflects a 5.3% increase to the Maximum Aid Payment. These increased grant costs are funded entirely by the Child Poverty and Family Supplemental Support Sub-accounts of the Local Revenue Fund.
SSI/SSP – provides a monthly cash benefit to eligible aged, blind and disabled persons. This budget includes $2.7 billion in General Funds in 2021-22 for the SSI/SSP program. Effective January 2021, the maximum SSI/SSP grant levels are $995 per month for individuals and $1598 per couple. CAPI benefits are equivalent to SSI/SSP.
Child welfare services include family support and maltreatment prevention services, child protective services, foster care services, and adoptions. The May revision includes $1.1 billion in General Funds in 2021-22 for services to children and families in these programs.