By the end of June, California Governor Gavin Newsom will need to find a solution to a $73 billion budget shortfall that some legislators and experts claim he contributed to through his “mismanagement of state finances.”
With a $97 billion surplus, Newsom signed a $301 billion budget into law in 2022. The budget contained billions of dollars for education, homelessness, and climate change projects, almost tripling the amount from the previous fiscal year. However, the shortfall has widened after two years.
A compromise negotiated behind closed doors by Democratic lawmakers on Friday would decrease the state’s multibillion-dollar deficit by $17.3 billion through a combination of spending cuts, delays, and deferrals. Republicans in Congress immediately branded as “gimmicky.”
