SACRAMENTO >> Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law California’s budget bill for the coming year — and 15 related bills on everything from the dismantling of a troubled tax agency to recreational marijuana regulations.
The governor did not wield his line-item veto power this year, which means the budget passed this month by the Legislature remains intact.
“California is taking decisive action by enacting a balanced state budget,” Brown said in a statement Tuesday. “This budget provides money to repair our roads and bridges, pay down debt, invest in schools, fund the earned income tax credit and provide Medi-Cal health care for millions of Californians.”
Among the more popular additions to the budget is the expansion of a state tax credit for low-wage workers — a change that could make a million more households eligible for the benefit. The budget also gives $3 billion more to schools and steps up support for state-subsidized child care, increasing reimbursement rates for providers and updating income requirements for participating families.
Some parents lost their eligibility when minimum-wage increases took effect this year.
“Thanks to this new budget, California is a true trailblazer in America when it comes to affordable, quality child care for lower-income families,” said Kim Kruckel, Executive Director of the San Francisco-based Child Care Law Center.
The bills Brown signed Tuesday include a controversial move to change the rules for recall elections, provisions added to a budget bill just days before the vote. Republicans were outraged about the maneuver. They argued Democrats were side-stepping the typical process for vetting policy changes in order to fast-track changes to help a Southern California colleague, Sen. Josh Newman, who is facing a recall election.
Brown also persuaded the Legislature to include a $6 billion pension loan from the state’s Surplus Money Investment Fund, a complicated deal that the Legislative Analyst’s Office cautioned shouldn’t be rushed. Brown cites estimates that it will save the state $11 billion over the next 20 years and stabilize the state’s contributions to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, even though it will cost $1 billion in interest over time.
The budget gives a state-funded program an extra $15 million to help those facing deportation amid widespread fears of heightened immigration enforcement under the Trump administration.
The program, One California, is overseen by the state’s Department of Social Services. It was created in 2015 to provide naturalization services and help young, undocumented immigrants apply for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program created by former President Barack Obama for the so-called Dreamers.
More details, including a lengthy budget summary, are posted on the governor’s budget website.
