03/28/2024

Legislative lawyers suggest Gov. Jerry Brown’s interpretation of a long-standing state spending limit is wrong

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle raised concerns Tuesday that Gov. Jerry Brown’s state budget plan relies on a faulty calculation of a spending limit imposed by voters in 1979.

“This is really a big deal,” state Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber) said during a meeting of the Senate’s budget committee.

At issue is how to interpret a 38-year-old state appropriations limit that, if breached, would require excess revenues to go to schools or be paid to taxpayers as rebates.

An April 28 opinion from the legislative counsel of California, released publicly Tuesday, said that certain appropriations that Brown’s budget looks to exclude from the spending limit “must be included” per the language that voters placed in the California Constitution.

View Article