The May Revise

As is customary, Governor Newsom presented his "May Revise" budget earlier today. Unlike past budget presentations, this one was on the short side (for Newsom): 38 minutes for the basic presentation and another 63 minutes for Q&A with reporters.

Details of the budget are not yet on the Dept. of Finance budget website but we do have an outline from the summary charts shown on the table below.

As blog readers will know, words such as surplus and deficit are often used loosely in California budget-speak. The table belows takes the governor's figures and rearranges them in a consistent format. There are various reserves associated with the general fund (GF). These are the reserves of the general fund, an account for public schools, a reserve known as the safety net, and the Budget Stabilization Account (BSA) often termed the "rainy day fund." If we combine all these together, we can calculate the surplus or deficit by determining whether in total they are rising (surplus) or falling (deficit).

As can be seen from the table, the governor is proposing a relatively small deficit of $2.3 billion for next year based on his forecasts of revenues and expenditures. It is important to stress that a budget proposal is a forecast. Indeed, even the budget for this year that is shown is partly a forecast because the year is not over. And, although we don't have clear numbers, it is apparent that this year is in deficit by a large amount, well over $30 billion. 

Until more details are posted, any developments specific to UC cannot be discussed.

Source: https://ebudget.ca.gov/2024-25/pdf/BudgetSummary/SummaryCharts.pdf.