Legislature’s budget plan is contingent on federal aid

The Assembly and Senate, both dominated by Democrats, have agreed on a budget plan to present to Gov. Gavin Newsom. But it must still survive negotiations with the governor -- and it depends on the federal government coming through with COVID-19 related support that has yet to be approved.

The deal announced late Wednesday contains few changes from the Democratic proposals presented in late May and run through budget committees last week. It rejects $283.3 million in cuts to court funding in favor of just a $100 million reduction. The Legislature's plan would also protect court programs that serve low-income people.

"Dependency counsel, self help, court interpreters, and Equal Access Fund are not subject to this cut," a budget summary circulated Wednesday stated.

This fits with a wider Democratic goal for the entire state budget.

"At a time when people need government the most, we thought it was extremely important to not cut Health and Human Services, many of the social safety net services that are very core to people who even in times of full employment were living on the edge," said Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, on Thursday morning while chairing the Subcommittee on Budget Process, Oversight And Program Evaluation.

But just moments later, Legislative Analyst Gabriel Petek testified about the elephant in the room: the current lack of federal support.

"When it comes to federal funding, this is where the two packages really have a fundamentally different approach," said Petek, testifying remotely. "Their baseline assumption on whether or not more federal funding will be forthcoming actually makes it kind of difficult to compare the two packages."

According to their summary, the Democratic lawmakers' plan relies on "$14 billion of additional federal support." Newsom's plan instead proposes a series of trigger cuts that would be rescinded if federal aid does arrive.

If federal money is not forthcoming, Ting said, further cuts would be coming to programs including the Judicial Council. A spokesperson for the courts agency declined to comment on Thursday.

Another aspect of the plan that made it through the committee process is an additional $146 million in cuts to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The plan did not propose any changes to $23.5 million in cuts to the Department of Justice put forward by Newsom.