Legislature Agrees to Deal with Governor, Set to Pass Soon

by Brian Leubitz

It turns out representative democracy works. It really works! When you let the majority party do its job, they tend to get it done. It doesn’t hurt that the Governor is of the same party as well, of course. However, in the end, the Governor got most of what he wanted, this is primarily a budget with limited restorations of persistent funding. And he mostly got his way on school funding as well. From John Myers:

The proposal, which still must be put into actual bill form by week’s end, gives legislative Democrats from both houses a smattering of their priorities, from money for mental health programs to new dollars for career technical education and a new scholarship program aimed at college students from middle-class families.

For the governor, the budget includes most of what he wanted in a major education funding plan to earmark money for disadvantaged students.  The proposal tinkers with, but retains the structure, of the formulas first demanded by Brown in January — including extra cash for school districts with higher concentrations of poor and English learner students. (John Myers / News10)

There are still plenty of smaller details to work out, but the budget is looking like it will be passed on time for a third straight year. It is no coincidence that it has been three years since the majority vote ballot measure was passed.

On the other hand, this budget is far from all that could be desired from a progressive standpoint. There are big holes that should be filled sooner rather than later. We are still leaving some of our most vulnerable Californians without the services that they desperately need. We are still underfunding the supposedly co-equal judicial branch. We are still underfuning health care services.

The budget uses Brown’s more conservative estimates of revenue over the LAO’s estimates of $3B extra, but perhaps that caution could lead to a more sustainable future for state services.