PRESS RELEASE: California Senate Announces Key Priorities for the 2019-2020 Budget

May 23, 2019

SACRAMENTO - California Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) and Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee Chair Holly J. Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) today announced the Senate’s key priorities for the 2019-2020 budget as the June 15, 2019 deadline for passing a budget approaches.

“The Senate’s proposed budget is bold and responsible. At a time when the federal government is moving backward, we are moving our state forward and lifting Californians up,” Leader Atkins said. “Alongside vital investments in education, this budget provides Californians with safe drinking water, increases access to abortion services for women, helps move children out of poverty, and expands access to health care.  At the same time, given that we must protect against future economic downturns, this  budget dedicates the vast majority of available resources to paying debt, building reserves and supporting projects that don’t require ongoing funding.”

Senator Mitchell agreed.

“Our budget is a statement of our values,” Senator Mitchell said. “With this budget we protect our special education students, people with special needs and the providers that serve them; foster-care children and the families that take them in; and those striving to create a better future for themselves through education. We’re also providing more stable and quality childcare for working families, putting more money into the hands of the working poor, and growing our Medi-Cal program so that more Californians can have the health care they need and deserve.”

Governor Newsom put forth a thoughtful and prudent budget proposal, which the Senate Democrats are building upon. Specifically, the Senate is proposing:

  • The largest reserves in history and almost 80% of available resources allocated to build reserves; pay debts; or one-time spending.
  • Strengthens the middle class with no new taxes on middle and lower income Californians; by lowering Covered California’s insurance plan costs for families with incomes up to $150,000; providing highest level of education investments in history; increasing access to higher education and no tuition hikes; and ending DMV practice of passing on credit card services charges to customers.
  • Record levels of Proposition 98 funding, discretionary resources above Prop 98 allocation; increased access to Early Care and Education; and increased access to higher education.

“I look forward to negotiating with Governor Gavin Newsom and Speaker Anthony Rendon so we may craft a budget that continues to move our state forward and makes prudent investments in California’s families,” Leader Atkins continued.

In specific areas, the Senate proposes:

Early Care and Education:

  • Provides $85 million to increase rates for part-day license-exempt child care providers.
  • Provides $90 million ($150 million ongoing) in General Fund and $12.8 million in federal funds to provide an increase of more than 15,000 child care slots.
  • Provides $25 million above the May Revision proposal of $40.6 million ($54.2 million ongoing) to expand Stage 1 Child Care to provide full-time care for 12 months or until a family transfers to Stage 2 Child Care.

K-12 Education:

  • Funds Proposition 98 at the same level as the May Revision, but provides nearly $300 million more in programmatic spending, and less into the Prop 98 Reserve.
  • Provides $533 million in ongoing funds for Special Education programs by reallocating the funds proposed by the Governor to instead equalize special education per pupil rates to the 90th percentile and create an early-intervention program to fund education for 3- and 4-year-old children with disabilities.
  • Provides $550 million for Mental Health Partnerships in schools.

Higher Education:

  • Provides $30 million above the Governor’s proposal of $45 million for the California State University Grad Initiative.
  • Provides $23 million above the Governor’s proposal of $62 million to increase enrollment by a total of 10,000 students in the California State University system.
  • Provides $10 million above the Governor’s proposal of $10 million to increase UC enrollment by funding 1,000 new resident undergraduate students.
  • Begins in 2020-21 the 10-year phase down of non-resident students to no more than 10 percent at any campus by 2029-30 school year, replaces the non-residents with California students, and replaces lost non-resident tuition with General Fund dollars. This will result in an increase of 17,000 California students over what there otherwise would be (and 36,000 more California students than there are today).
  • Provides $105 million ($25 million ongoing) for facilities and operating costs at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine.
  • Provides $15 million one-time to address student hunger, and $9 million ongoing to address student homelessness at the California Community Colleges.
  • Provides $15 million one-time to expand and create additional veterans resource centers at the California Community Colleges. 
  • Provides $30 million ongoing to increase the number of full-time faculty at community colleges.
  • Redirects $97 million proposed by the Governor for targeted uses to instead provide $87 million to increase the number of Competitive Cal Grants awards by 18,250, for a total of 44,000 awards and $10 million to provide summer semester Cal Grants.

Resources:

  • Provides a $150 million permanent, continuous appropriation for the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund
  • Appropriates a total of $1.5 billion of discretionary Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund revenues, and increase of $208 million above the Governor’s proposal.

Health Care:

  • Provides $300 million in addition to the $300 million proposed by the Governor to expand subsidies for Californians living up to 600% of the federal poverty level (about $150,000). The subsidies will provide an average of $200 per family in monthly premium relief for Californians who are between 400% and 600% of federal poverty, and an average of $20 per month per family in addition to the current federal subsidies for Californians under 400% of federal poverty.
  • Provides $62 million to eliminate the share of the cost increase for low-income Medi-Cal recipients that turn 65 years old.
  • Provides $52 million to include seniors in the Governor’s proposal to expand Medi-Cal to low-income young adults in Medi-Cal regardless of immigrant status.
  • Provides $6.1 million to restore optional benefits of audiology, incontinence creams/washes, podiatry, and speech therapy.  This is in addition to the Governor’s proposal of $11.3 million for optical benefits. 

Human Services:

  • Provides $50 million ($100 million ongoing) in addition to the Governor’s proposal to increase Department of Developmental Services rates by at least 8 percent.
  • Provides $25.7 million in ongoing funding for Senior Nutrition, In-Home Supportive Services Public Authority Administration, and Long Term-Term Care Ombudsman
  • Provides $23 million in one-time funds for Long-term Care Actuarial study, Alzheimer Early Detection and Diagnosis, Adult Protective Services Training, Simplified CalFresh Application, and Aging & Disability Resource Connections.
  • Eliminates statutorily the Great Recession era 7 percent IHSS cut.
  • Provides $50 million ($100 million ongoing) for an SSI/SSP COLA beginning January 1, 2020.
  • Adjusts the Governor’s proposed CalWORKs grant increase to better align as the second year of planned grant increases to ensure no child lives in deep poverty.
  • Provides $35.5 million to increase the Earned Income Disregard to enable working recipients to keep more of their earnings, and provides $7 million to remove the CalWORKs asset test.

Public Safety:

  • Provides $120 million in one-time new General Fund to reduce recidivism and improve successful reentry.
  • Provides $170 million in ongoing access to justice investments.

General Government:

  • Provides $168 million, in addition to the Governor’s proposal of $1.2 billion, to expand the CalEITC to taxpayers who file with Individual Tax Identification Numbers.
  • Provides $30 million, in addition to the Governor’s proposal of up to $79.5 million, for census outreach to help ensure a more accurate California count.

Information that is more detailed is available here: https://bit.ly/2JXmali.

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