Walters: Newsom’s budget cuts anger allies, but leaves chronic deficit unresolved

When Gov Gavin Newsom unveiled a revised state budget last week he irritated and perhaps alienated major interest groups allied with his Democratic Party They flooded reporters email inboxes with critical reaction statements demanding that spending reductions he announced were necessary to cover a substantial deficit and other aspects of the budget be blocked The loudest reactions came from advocates for the poor and elderly They decried Newsom s plan to scale back an expansion of Medi-Cal physical condition care to undocumented immigrants that he had championed last year as well as his imposition of monthly premiums elimination of certain benefits limits on at-home care and tighter qualifications for benefits The budget proposal fails to marshal the tools needed to help vulnerable Californians meet basic requirements like medical care housing and food assistance the left-leaning California Budget and Strategy Center stated It also falls short in delivering the bold response needed from California s leaders amid unprecedented federal threats and economic uncertainty However there were also adverse reactions from inhabitants employee unions over Newsom s intention to hold down state worker raises and from city and county authorities over a lack of grants for homelessness Newsom s intends to crack down on local governments he deems to be negligent Curative care providers dislike both Newsom s Medi-Cal restrictions and his diversion of funds from a special tax on soundness care approved by voters last year meant to increase payments for medicine Environmentalists are angered by Newsom s declared intention to fast-track a tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to increase water deliveries to Southern California Advocates of Proposition a voter-approved measure to crack down on specific crimes that Newsom opposed decry his failure to include funds for implementation The wave of criticism and opposition puts the Legislature on the spot Those who dislike the budget are demanding that legislators compel Newsom to scale back his proposals as they negotiate a semi-final version of the spending plan over the next four weeks to meet a June deadline A multitude of legislators owe their careers to the budget critics particularly unions and environmentalists and don t want to alienate them Newsom on the other hand is approaching lame duck status with his gubernatorial career having just months remaining Politically Newsom can afford to irritate those groups However his relatively brief remaining tenure also means he is beginning to lose his sway over legislators particularly those who will still be in office after Newsom is gone Newsom is obviously hoping that by making budget cuts now to narrow the state s chronic gap between income and outgo he can avoid joining the list of ex-governors who left the state s finances in disarray for their successors Newsom inherited a state budget from predecessor Jerry Brown that was in pretty good condition but over the last six-plus years which included a pandemic spending increase has outpaced revenue increases The Legislature s budget analyst of late cited an average annual increase in outlays since Newsom became governor but just in average revenue upsurge Related Articles Philp For Newsom it s as if California voters never passed Prop Chabria Newsom isn t backing down on strength care for immigrants despite threats Walters California will face increased tax-increase pressures as Newsom departs Opinion How other states are protecting their core services amid budget cuts Palo Alto reviews proposed billion budget That has left the state with what budget mavens call a substantial structural deficit that the analyst Gabe Petek and Newsom s own budget staff estimate to be billion to billion annually If it went unaddressed it would total billion through - Even with the reductions Newsom proposes projected - general fund revenues of billion are still billion short of the billion in spending he proposes The gap will be covered by loans and transfers from special funds shifting spending to other pots of money and various bookkeeping gimmicks Dan Walters is a CalMatters columnist