California’s budget politics were temporarily sidetracked by an increasingly severe statewide drought, forcing the state to take action. Democratic lawmakers elected new leadership, who, like their predecessors, argued the state should increase social spending. The major budget clash centered on California’s booming economy and what to do with a large projected tax surplus. The legislature wanted to spend the revenue, while Governor Jerry Brown downplayed the fiscal estimates and wanted to squirrel away the extra money in the state’s new rainy-day fund. Brown sparred with the University of California over UC’s increasing reliance on out-of-state students to fund the university, limiting the number of spots for California students.

Unlike his first budgets, Governor Jerry Brown began this budget cycle from a position of political strength. The Democrats controlled a 2/3 supermajority in both chambers of the legislature, allowing them to increase taxes without a single Republican vote. Voters approved Brown’s temporary tax increases in a November 2012 referendum, adding several billion in state revenue. The improved economic and political situations allowed Brown and Democratic lawmakers to broaden the debate over the 2013-2014 budget. The centerpiece is a massive restructuring of state money for K-14 education. In addition, Brown wants to continue paying down the “Wall of Debt”, the nearly $30 billion the state had accumulated over its previous borrowing spree.

California passed a 2018‒2019 budget with record budget surpluses as the state attention shifted to the upcoming 2018 election. This was Jerry Brown’s final budget after sixteen years as governor, a state record. Brown was concerned the state’s volatile income tax revenues might not hold up during a future recession and wanted to store as much of the surplus away in the state’s emergency “rainy-day” fund. Continuing the annual pattern, Democratic legislators wanted to spend some of the surplus on social services, including the increasing problems of homelessness and affordable housing.  In addition, legislators began to address the long-ignored problem of sexual harassment in the capitol and was on the front line of the #MeToo movement, leading several legislators to resign. Democrats did well in the November elections, leading to an even bluer California.

Amidst a global pandemic, a gubernatorial recall election, and a shaky economy, California had one of its best budget years in recent memory. Flush with cash, the state was able to make unprecedented investments in education, health, and social welfare programs, provide direct stimulus payments to many California residents, and still set aside money in its rainy-day fund. Governor Newsom handily defeated the recall effort, and the budget outlook for 2022 looks bright. 2021 was a tumultuous year, but California is proving that it’s once again the “Golden State”.

The 2023 budgeting cycle in California was much different from the previous year. California’s finances, always topsy-turvy, faced a dramatic reversal of fortune as surplus turned to deficit.  Nonetheless, the state was able to weather the storm and avoid deep spending cuts, thanks to a combination of good economic times in years past and politically expedient decisions by the Governor and Legislature.  However, delayed tax collections and projections for structural deficits, even absent a recession, meant storm clouds were on the horizon as the year drew to a close.  The tough decisions that were sidestepped in 2023 might have to be made in 2024.

California was in a better position during the 2016-2017 budget cycle than it had been in previous years.  Rather than arguing over budget cuts, the majority Democrats spent their time debating spending priorities.  In the end, legislative Democrats and Governor Jerry Brown both claimed victory, which left the state on a solid financial footing.  As Governor Brown entered the second half of his second term, the Democratic Party continued to strengthen its hold on the state.  November 2016 Election Day victories provided the party with a two-thirds majority in the legislature, ensuring state government in the coming years would remain an exclusively intraparty affair.