State Budget

The Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee held a two-hour hearing January 19 to get an overview of the governor’s budget proposal from the Department of Finance and Legislative Analyst’s Office. The meeting in the Senate chambers, with testimony provided remotely and shown on large television screens, was for informational purposes only, and no votes were taken. Senator Nancy Skinner, who chairs the committee, said the Senate’s five budget subcommittees will continue holding hearings through the first week of March,…

On January 10, Governor Gavin Newsom released his budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year, a $286.4 billion plan that proposes restoration of business tax credits (including research-and-development credits) and net operating loss deductions that were limited by AB 85 of 2020. “Taxpayers applaud the administration for making this a priority and sending a signal that California values the importance of R&D,” CalTax President Robert Gutierrez said. The budget also proposes spending $3 billion over two years to repay debt in the Unemployment…

Through the first four months of the fiscal year, state revenue is $15.98 billion ahead of the amount projected in the budget enacted this summer, the California Department of Finance announced in its latest finance bulletin. That amount includes $4.78 billion in unexpected revenue from the 2020-21 fiscal year (which had not yet concluded when the new budget was approved) and $11.19 billion above 2021-22 budget’s projections for the first four months of the fiscal year. For the first four…

State revenue is increasing at historic rates and could result in a $31 billion dollar surplus to allocate in next year’s budget process, and the state constitution’s spending limit “will constrain how the Legislature can allocate the estimated surplus,” the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) reported November 17. The spending limit will be “the key issue” in the 2022-23 budget, the analyst stated. The windfall can be attributed to $28 billion in increased revenue from tax collections as well as federal…

California’s general fund tax revenue is $13.9 billion above the forecast in the 2021-22 state budget, the Department of Finance (DOF) reported October 22. The report was foreshadowed by Governor Gavin Newsom, who cited the $14 billion figure October 20 when he announced that the state government will have another “historic budget surplus” in the next fiscal year. Newsom said that when he releases his 2022-23 budget proposal in January, “I’ll be announcing another historic budget surplus, record reserves, paying…

The state government will have another “historic budget surplus” in the next fiscal year, Governor Gavin Newsom said October 20 during a presentation at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference. The governor said his administration today will announce “an additional $14 billion above our cash projections,” and in his January budget proposal, “I’ll be announcing another historic budget surplus, record reserves, paying down $11.3 billion in pension obligations ….” (CalTax: The Legislative Analyst’s Office this morning released a revenue update stating:…

California’s revenue outlook continues to be very positive, the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) reported, as personal income tax withholding collections from September 1 to September 24 were 23.5 percent ($1.2 billion) above the same period in 2020. For the entire 2021-22 fiscal year up to September 24, withholding collections were 22.5 percent above the same period in 2020-21, the LAO added. California employers’ income tax withholding payments “can provide a real-time indication of the direction and magnitude of the aggregate…

The state’s tax revenue windfall could reach $25 billion by the end of the current fiscal year, the Legislative Analyst’s Office stated in an update of its formal revenue outlook for 2021-22, originally published in May. “We currently project that there is a strong chance that collections from the state’s ‘big three’ taxes – personal income, sales, and corporation taxes – will exceed the budget act assumption of $170 billion in 2021-22,” the analyst wrote. “Our current best estimate is that the…

General fund tax revenue for July, the first month of the 2021-22 fiscal year, was $1.54 billion above the $8.38 billion forecast in the recently approved state budget, the Department of Finance announced August 23. The department added that general fund revenue for the entire 2020-21 fiscal year was $4.78 billion (2.4 percent) above the $201.78 billion forecast in the new budget, which was put together before the fiscal year ended. Personal income tax revenue for July was $1.22 billion…

Democratic legislative leaders announced June 1 that they have reached a budget agreement and will now negotiate with Governor Gavin Newsom over differences between their $267.1 billion plan and the $267.8 billion budget proposed by the governor. The legislative budget largely mirrors the governor’s plan and proposes $196.1 billion in general fund spending, compared to $196.8 billion in Newsom’s proposal. Both plans represent significant increases from the $165.2 billion in general fund spending in the budget approved last summer, and…