Governor Jerry Brown signed a $115.4 billion budget package on June 24, including 19 so-called “trailer bills” that enact the budget framework. The Governor and legislative leaders announced the deal about a week prior. His signatures put a wrap on this year’s budget cycle. The Governor used his line-item veto authority to remove $1.3 million from the spending plan.

The budget pays down state debt, increases the state’s “rainy day fund” as required by last year’s Proposition 2, significantly increases funding for K-14 education, and makes smaller but still significant increases to the UC and CSU systems.

“Overall, this has been a solid budget for California counties,” said CSAC Executive Director Matt Cate. “The increase in state tax revenue allowed the state to repay $765 million in pre-2004 state mandate debts that have been owed to local governments for a long time, and counties have already received the bulk of those payments. There are also some meaningful increases in state funding for county health and human services programs.”

Counties can find more information about the mandate payments on the State Controller’s website. Warrants for the principal amounts were sent out earlier this week. Interest payments are tentatively scheduled for August 20 and September 14.

Increased access to child care and preschool was among the most hotly contested budget issues, with legislative Democrats making a strong push for more slots, higher rates, and the ability of workers to collectively bargain. In the final end, they compromised with the Governor, agreeing to $265 million to fund 7,000 additional preschool slots and 6,800 child care slots, plus a rate increase for all providers.

The budget also contains $226 million on a one-time basis to restore the 7 percent reduction in service hours for In-Home Supportive Services and $40 million to expand Medi-Cal to cover all low-income undocumented children effective May 1, 2016, which will increase to $132 million when it is fully implemented.

Last week, as he announced his negotiated budget agreement with legislators, the Governor also called two special legislative sessions. They will deal with pressing issues: transportation funding—one of CSAC’s Legislative Priorities for the year—and how to manage the upcoming loss of $1 billion in revenue from a tax on managed care organizations.

“We’ve been pretty successful in raising awareness about the huge backlog of deferred maintenance on local streets, roads, and bridges,” said Cate. “But as we begin the special session on these issues, we have to make sure that the local needs stay on the front burner. There has to be an equitable split in revenue allocation between state highways and local roads. They may be separate systems on paper, but they are completely interconnected and interdependent. Most Californians don’t know or care who owns the roads they drive on. They just want to get to their destination safely and efficiently.”

CSAC has collected a variety of resources for counties related to these two issues, available on our website. Be sure to check back often as we continue to add content.