Governor's budget crisis: Slashing safety to fund climate goals
Sarah Katherine Sisk
Daily Caller News Foundation
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California proposed cutting from the state’s public safety budget to address a $27.6 billion fiscal deficit while also expanding climate-related programs.
Newsom proposed revisions to the 2024-25 fiscal budget in May which cut $80 million from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and $15 million from Department of Justice (DOJ). The proposal includes moving $1.7 billion from the General Fund to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), specifically for “equity programs” and other “climate priorities.”
The changes would reduce prison capacity by 4,600 beds across 13 prisons, cut funding for law enforcement training and cut $4.4 million from county probation departments. They also include a $97 million cut for court trial operations.
Over the next five years, Newsom proposed moving $3.6 billion from the General Fund to the GGRF, “including transit programs, clean energy programs, zero-emission vehicle programs, and nature-based solutions programs.”
In San Francisco, 8,686 reported thefts, 1,962 reported burglaries and 2,298 reported motor vehicle thefts have occurred since the beginning of the year, according to the San Francisco Police Department.
Despite cutting the Department of Social Services state expenditure fund by more than 10%, the May Revision claims it “maintains current service levels for key health care, social services and other critical programs.”
Newsom is “not proposing new taxes,” according to one May Revision fact sheet. Instead he proposed to increase the Managed Care Organization Tax, which previously faced backlash from medical professionals as an obstacle to solvency.
The revisions increase funding for the State Department of Healthcare Services. “We also want to maintain our Healthcare expansion across the board. Regardless of ability to pay, uh regardless of pre-existing conditions, and uh your, your immigration status,” Newsom said when announcing the revisions.
Our revised state budget proposal cuts spending, makes government leaner, and preserves core services — all without proposing new taxes on hardworking Californians.
It’s a balanced, two-year solution that sets California on the right path. pic.twitter.com/xT9RLH03X5
— California Governor (@CAgovernor) May 10, 2024
Newsom proposed a $510 million cut from the Middle Class Scholarship Program (MCS), and reduced funding for homelessness prevention.
The California Legislature rejected many of Newsom’s proposals, pushing instead to restore full funding for MCS, which “primarily benefits lower income students,” according to the updated Joint Legislative Budget Plan.
The Legislature’s plan proposed a significant, though less severe version of Newsom’s budget cuts to the CDCR and DOJ, saying it intends “for the administration to avoid cuts, as much as possible, to vital rehabilitation and family connection programs, among others.”
The Legislature has until June 15 to approve the bill, according to the state constitution.
California has one of the highest outbound moving populations in the country, according to a United Van Lines Mover’s Study. California’s continual hemorrhaging of both businesses and people contributed to the budget deficit, Florida’s chief financial officer, Jimmy T. Patronis told Fox News.
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