Gov. Jerry Brown, issuing a $170.6 billion state spending plan Thursday, proposed billions of dollars in new funding for schools, climate change programs and services for the elderly and disabled.
But the fourth-term governor, who took office amid a crippling recession, repeatedly warned of the possibility of another economic downturn, rejecting calls for more robust spending increases. Brown also criticized ballot measures seeking to extend temporary tax increases he championed in 2012, faulting them for exempting revenue from Proposition 2, the budget reserve voters approved in 2014.
“That, in my judgment, is a fatal flaw,” he said.
