California Budget

Good Monday morning, California. Death penalty: What would candidates do A life-or-death decision: California’s next governor could quickly face a stark choice: allow an execution to take place or commute it. As part of our 2018 election guide, which we introduce today, we asked major candidates for governor how they would confront that decision, and compiled their answers […]

Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa apparently believes his path to the governor's office runs through the San Joaquin Valley.

Gov. Jerry Brown faces challenges to convince the Legislature and a skeptical community college faculty that online education is the key to reaching the 2.5 million Californians aged 25 to 34 who graduated from high school but lack a college degree.

California's focus: what to do with an expected surplus of at least $6.1 billion. Republicans say return it to California’s 40 million residents as a nice tax refund. The governor's priority is to fill up the state's rainy day fund. Democratic legislators mostly want to spend it.

A mutant octopus? A psychedelic Rorschach test? The world’s most elaborate Chinese finger trap? No, this CALmatters creation is the California state budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year. Follow its fiscal tributaries from tax revenues on the left to spending on the right, and you’ll see where the state’s priorities lie—all 183 billion of them. […]

Update:  Assembly Bill 19 was signed into law in 2017, paving the way to free community college for full-time, first-year students.  California’s economy is one of the world’s largest, and according to a new report, the state needs 1 million more workers with bachelor’s degrees by 2030 to keep up with economic demand. The Public […]

“Trailer bills,” said Sen. Richard Roth—referring to pieces of legislation tied to the budget but often bearing little connection to it—“are a box of chocolates. And you never know what you’re going to get.” Surprises abound each year as lawmakers craft the annual budget that keeps the state running. While most of the budget involves big-ticket items such as how much to spend on public education ($74.5 billion) or health care for the poor ($105.6 billion), a few extra nuggets are always thrown in that don’t involve much money but make significant policy changes.

California’s Democratic legislators want to extend health benefits to undocumented young adults, the continuation of an effort that ushered children without legal status into the state’s publicly funded health care system last year. It is unclear when the program would start or how much the state would spend if the proposal, which could cost up […]

Amy Woods got a call last year from the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, informing her that the mother of her 2-and-a-half-year-old foster son had just given birth to another boy. The newborn needed a home: Would she take him in? Woods was given 24 hours to make the decision, but […]

On a recent rainy morning in Los Angeles, Maria Bernal’s stove clicks to life with a bright blue flame to toast bread on a griddle for her 9-year-old son Edwin to smear with peanut butter. As she scoops papaya chunks into the blender for a smoothie, she recalls her worry during all the years when […]