Highlights of Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised budget

Highlights of Gov. Jerry Brown’s revised budget for the 2014-15 fiscal year; his plan now goes to the Legislature.

SPENDING:

- Projects a $107.8 billion general fund for the fiscal year starting July 1. Includes $2.4 billion in increased revenue over his January estimate.

- Total spending is $156.2 billion, including from bond funds and special funds that are dedicated to specific programs.

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PAYING DOWN DEBTS:

- Includes $1.6 billion to make the final payment on the economic recovery bonds passed during the administration of former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to close a budget deficit. Voters approved the $15 billion bond in 2004. Through May 1 of this year, the state had paid $14 billion in principal and interest, according to the state treasurer’s office. It could not yet estimate how much the bond will cost once it is fully paid off.

- Puts $1.6 billion into the state’s rainy day fund.

- Includes a 30-year plan to pay down California’s nearly $74 billion in unfunded liabilities for the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, including a contribution of $450 million in the next fiscal year from the state, school districts and teachers. The state portion would be $73.2 million from the general fund.

- Makes a $100 million payment to local governments as reimbursement for deferred state mandates owed since at least 2004.

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EDUCATION:

- K-12 education will receive a total of $44.7 billion from the general fund, a 4.3 percent increase over the current fiscal year.

- The amount owed to schools has increased under California’s Proposition 98 funding guarantee by $659 million above January projections. That includes $4.5 billion to implement the local control funding formula, Brown’s plan that allows local leaders to have more control over how schools spend the money they receive from the state.

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HIGHER EDUCATION:

- Total general fund spending is $12.5 billion, a 9.9 percent increase over the current year.

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HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES:

- Total general fund spending of $29.6 billion, a 2.7 percent increase over the current year.

- Proposes increased spending of $2.4 billion in Medi-Cal, the state’s health insurance program for the poor, as a result of 1.4 million more people than expected enrolling. The administration had projected 10.5 million people would enroll in Medi-Cal in the 2014-15 fiscal year but now projects 11.5 million will gain coverage.

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WELFARE:

- Increase of $107.9 million in general fund spending this year and $134.4 million in the coming fiscal year, due to growth in caseload, hours per case and costs per hour for the In-Home Supportive Services program.

- Increase of $35 million this year and $95.2 million in 2014-15 in state and federal funding for CalWORKs, the state’s welfare-to-work program. The revised budget also includes $13 million in general fund spending for a 5 percent increase in the maximum aid allowed, an increase of $6.8 million from the January proposal.

- Increase of $20.7 million in general fund spending for an additional 134,000 households projected by June 2015 to join the CalFresh food stamp program. This brings the total estimated 2014-15 caseload to 279,000 households.

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HIGH-SPEED RAIL:

- The governor is proposing to direct $250 million in proceeds from cap-and-trade, greenhouse gas emission fees to the high-speed rail project. The bullet train has faced legal setbacks and is in a bind because it cannot currently sell some $9 billion in voter-approved bonds.

Brown said Tuesday the project is important for economic and environmental reasons: “It’s not moving people who wouldn’t have moved. It’s moving them in a more efficient, more elegant manner in a train than sitting behind the wheel with all the stress that brings and all the impacts on climate and sprawl and parking lots and all the rest.”

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DROUGHT:

- Adds $142 million to address California’s drought for expenses such as firefighting, emergency response, water management, wildlife preservation and food assistance, primarily for farm workers who lose their jobs.

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COURTS:

- Includes total funding of $3.6 billion for the judicial branch, of which $1.3 billion will come from the general fund.

- The Brown administration proposes to reduce court pension costs by asking trial courts to increase employee contributions in the same way the state changed state worker contributions.

- Provides $30.9 million to backfill a potential shortfall in court service fees, such as copying charges.

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Source: California Department of Finance.