(The Center Square) – In the days after California Gov. Gavin Newsom released the May revision of his budget proposal, lawmakers spoke out about their priorities in the coming months for the final version.
“I want to see our state budget reflect the needs of our communities,” Assemblymember Juan Alanis, R-Modesto, told The Center Square on Monday. “In my area, we have projects throughout the county that need help. These people pay taxes, they’ve given to the government, and I expect the government to help them as well.”
Alanis said projects that help underserved populations, like in South Modesto, part of Alanis’s district, would be better beneficiaries of much of that money, along with programs that help children in K-12 schools and job training programs.
Assemblymember Dawn Addis, D-San Luis Obispo and chair of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health, told The Center Square that while she hates to see winners and losers in the budget, she knows she and other lawmakers are aiming to reduce spending as legislators grapple with a projected multi-year deficit.
“I want to make sure those most in need are getting the healthcare services that they need,” Addis told The Center Square. “We know it’s not a good thing when we take away primary care, and send people to other places to get healthcare. We’re trying to center on those most in need, whether that’s children or seniors, the lowest-income or even moderate-income.”
The governor’s latest budget proposal, released on Thursday, attempted to fix an estimated $35 billion deficit that was expected to last for the next several years, according to previous reporting by The Center Square. While Newsom’s revised budget reduced the deficit to 0 through 2028, a deficit remains beyond 2028. The final proposal by the outgoing governor, who's termed out on Jan. 4, 2027, also didn’t propose any new funding to Proposition 36, a tough-on-crime measure that California voters passed in 2024.
Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares, R-Lancaster, said she was largely concerned about the structural deficit that is projected to still persist after 2028.
“It’s really concerning that our revenues have actually come in stronger, and it’s largely because of A.I.-driven tax revenue. But we’re still talking about a structural deficit. We’re still talking about reserve withdrawals, borrowing and increasing taxes,” Valladares told The Center Square. “At the end of the day, I want a budget that is not simply balanced, but addresses our deficit and takes into serious account that working Californians are hurting.”
Valladares also said on Monday she wants to see money allocated to fully funding Proposition 36. The measure hasn’t gotten much, if any, funding from the governor’s budget proposal in the last two years.
“I think we need to take a step back and look at what government’s most basic responsibility is, which is public safety,” Valladares said.
Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, R-Santee, told The Center Square it would take an estimated $350 million to fully implement Prop. 36.
“There’s a proposal for $100 million,” he said Monday. “Seventy-percent of Californians voted for that [Prop. 36], and I think it would be safe to argue that even some of the people who didn’t vote for it still want it to happen now that it’s passed.”
Operating fire prevention programs, helping financially distressed hospitals and preventing fraud in taxpayer-funded programs should also be prioritized as lawmakers move forward with putting together a final budget, Jones said.
“I don’t want to call it an epidemic, but there’s multiple hospitals in trouble across the state,” Jones said. “What started out with one a couple of years ago, I think in Merced, has now expanded to multiple hospitals that are in trouble.”
The state’s high-speed rail project, which Republican lawmakers have criticized, is one project he wants to see defunded, Jones told The Center Square on Monday.
Democrats want to allocate more money to Assembly Bill 65, which expands parental leave for public school teachers, Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, D-Davis, told The Center Square
“I feel like we didn’t get our childcare slots,” Aguiar-Curry said about not getting enough money for taxpayer-funded child care. “I worked on it for 10 years, and to me, it’s low-hanging fruit to make sure our economy grows and families get taken care of. But I will say, as things are right now, I’m relatively happy with how the budget is, and I hope to continue to work on it.”
