Publication: KPBS/Associated Press
With nearly 40 million people stuck at home because of the coronavirus, California's governor on Tuesday warned state agencies to prepare for less money from the government that will likely postpone many of the state's ambitious spending plans.
Citing a “severe drop in economic activity,” Gov. Gavin Newsom's budget director wrote in a letter to all state agencies that they “should have no expectation of full funding for either new or existing proposals.”
That means some of Newsom's plans aided by a projected multi-billion dollar surplus could be on hold. His January budget proposal included plans for California to manufacture and sell its own generic drugs, create at least four new state agencies and give government-funded health insurance to low-income seniors living in the country illegally.
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Assemblyman Phil Ting, a Democrat from San Francisco who is chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee, said Tuesday he expects most state agencies to get the same amount of money next year as they got this year, with some exceptions. But he expects lawmakers to increase spending on three of the state's biggest problems: coronavirus, homelessness and wildfires.
“There really won’t be a whole lot of room for much else,” Ting said.
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