California has a budget deficit of $27.6 billion, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday — a gap so wide that he’s proposing eliminating 10,000 vacant state jobs and cutting spending across 260 state programs.
The Democratic governor outlined the deficit on Friday as part of his proposed $288 billion state budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. That’s by far the largest budget of any state.
One-time cuts would include $2 billion for broadband that would have expanded broadband connections, $500 million for water storage in the drought-plagued state, and $272 million for employment services for the state’s welfare program.
Continuing cuts would save another $81 million by closing housing units with 4,600 beds across 13 state prisons and removing $300 million in pandemic-related help for state and local public health departments. Ongoing spending for a scholarship program for middle-class college students pursuing a teaching credential would be cut by $510 million. He also wants to suspend the widely used net operating loss tax deduction for businesses.
“These are programs, propositions that I’ve long advanced — many of them,” Newsom said as he began outlining his budget. “But you’ve got to do it. We have to be responsible. We have to be accountable.”