Governor Signs $125 Billion General Spending Budget

Sacramento, CA — Governor Jerry Brown signed a $125 billion budget today that, up two percent from the last one, will reflect California’ s general fund spending for the next fiscal year.

Including spending from bonds and special funds, over which lawmakers have less control, the budget is $183 billion, which has increased by seven percent from a year ago.

The new budget boosts funding for K-12 schools and community colleges by $3.1 billion while also making reforms to the University of California and California State University systems that will give lawmakers more oversight of the UC president’s budget and direct the UC system to add 1,500 more slots for in-state undergraduate students; 500 more spaces for graduate students.

Low-income Californians on Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, will get improved dental and eyeglass coverage, and a tax credit for the working poor will be significantly expanded.

Brown comments that the budget provides money to repair state 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. Lawmakers slipped in unrelated provisions, including rules for the state’s budding marijuana industry and an attempt to quash the growth of federal immigration detention.