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Budget Updates (May Revision)

Budget Updates (May Revision)

May 21, 2023 Roots of Change

by Lesley Kroupa, JD, MS, RD, ROC’s Policy Specialist

On May 12, 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom released his May Revision proposal for the FY 23-24 state budget. This amends his initial budget proposal released in January 2023. Since January, California’s estimated budget deficit for FY 23-24 has increased by $9 billion from $22.5 billion to $31.5 billion.  The May revise did not include any additional reductions to ROC’s policy priorities.

Climate Change Initiatives:

The Governor’s January budget proposal cut $6 billion from the existing $54 billion climate package. The May revision carried over those cuts and it proposes to shift an additional $1.1 billion from existing commitments to a climate bond, which would require voter approval.     

Safety Net Programs:

While the Governor’s revised budget makes few changes to existing safety net programs, it is still unclear – though increasingly unlikely – whether improvements to existing programs and funding of new safety net programs will be included in the final budget. The May revision does propose to draw down $450 million from the State’s Safety Net Reserve, which funds CalWORKs and Medi-Cal.   

The California Constitution requires that the Legislature pass the budget by June 15.  

Legislative Updates:

The California legislature recently held a suspense file hearing wherein bills with estimated costs above a certain threshold are considered by their respective appropriations committees. Bills are either held in the suspense file to potentially be considered in a future legislative session or they pass out of the appropriations committee and may be considered for a general floor vote in their house of origin. All but one of ROC’s legislative priorities passed out of the suspense file. Assemblymember Bonta’s bill (AB 1644) that seeks to require Medi-Cal to cover medically supportive food and nutrition, such as produce prescriptions, was held in suspense.

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