By Bonnie Lowenthal
California State Assembly, 54th District
I’ll give you the good news first: revenues are up, and the deficit is down. That means the economy is picking up steam, which is great.
Now, the not-as-good news: revenues aren’t up enough to erase the deficit. We’re better off than we were a month ago, but we’re not out of the woods yet.
The governor has just released his latest budget proposal. Just like all governors, Jerry Brown has had his finance team pour over the numbers at the end of tax season, then made what is called the May Revise Budget— essentially the same budget he released in January, but now with some new details.
Obviously, the uptick in the economy is the best part.
There’s also a plan to increase the tax credit for small businesses that hire new people. The tax credit in the new plan is $4,000. Hopefully, some of our local businesses can take advantage of this break and get even more people back to work.
Not very long ago, the deficit was more than $26 billion. Then we cut it in half. Now the economy is helping out, and we’re looking at a deficit that’s less than $10 billion— still a huge problem, but certainly getting better.
In the coming weeks, the budget committees will comb through the fine details of the governor’s latest offering, and they’ll vote on it piece by piece. Once they’ve done their work, it will come before the entire Legislature.
There will be plenty of room for disagreement on the solution. There will be partisanship, and there will be blame and talk of a stalemate.
I for one have no intention of balancing a budget by hanging a “closed” sign on our school doors. Nor will I leave old people and sick kids out in the cold. Others have different priorities, but in the end, I sincerely believe we will find a way to agree.
