Publication: San Francisco Chronicle
Being flush with a nearly $15 billion budget surplus had some Democratic lawmakers in Sacramento already proposing tens of billions of dollars in new social and educational programs during the opening week of the new legislative session.
Proposals submitted by lawmakers in the first week ranged from more funding for schools to extending Medi-Cal eligibility to adults living in the country illegally.
But just as fast as the spending is being proposed, key lawmakers are tapping the brakes.
“We have to watch the bottom line,” said Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco.
“The California economy is strong, but we have been growing for eight years, and that is two years over the historic cycle for another recession,” Ting said. “We don’t want to start spending and then go through the dramatic cuts we had to in the last recession, which came to about $20 billion a year.”
Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom appears to agree.