Good News - Bad News on the State's Cash Situation and the Prospect for IOUs

The state controller has issued his cash report for the first two months of the fiscal year. He reports $6.7 billion in "unused unborrowed reserves," essentially cash he can use to pay bills. That sum continues to stave off the need for the kind of registered warrants (IOUs) that have been issued in the past. That's the good news.

The bad news is a) there still is no state budget, b) the cash the controller reports is in part available because, absent a state budget, some bills are not being paid (which saves cash), c) the sum is less than the projections of what it was estimated to be when the May revise was prepared, and d) it is less than we had last summer at this time.

You can find the August cash flow statement from the controller at http://www.sco.ca.gov/Files-ARD/CASH/fy1011_aug.pdf

The controller now is indicating that maybe there will be registered warrant-type IOUs some time in October. In the meantime, he is delaying payments to K-14 education to save cash. Some would argue that is a form of IOU. See http://toped.svefoundation.org/2010/09/09/state-shifts-cash-crisis-to-districts-and-colleges/