http://news.yahoo.com/governor-brown-unveil-california-budget-141509838.html California Governor's budget has surprise: a surplus SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - California's budget deficit is gone after years of financial troubles, Governor Jerry Brown said on Thursday, proposing a plan that raises spending on education and healthcare, boosting total expenditures by 5 percent. Brown vowed to push back at legislators eager to raise spending quickly, restoring the billions of dollars to social services and other state functions that were cut in lean years. "I am determined to avoid the fiscal mess that the last few governors had to deal with," Brown told reporters as he introduced the budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year beginning in July. The state expects $98.5 billion in revenues and transfers and plans spending $97.7 billion, according to the proposal published on the state Department of Finance website. That leaves a surplus of $851 million for the year, in addition to a projected $785 million surplus for the current fiscal year, which ends in June, allowing the state to put $1 billion toward a rainy day fund. Brown said he saw a balanced budget for the next four years. Spending in the upcoming year is set to rise 5 percent, or $4.7 billion, from the current 2012-13 budget. Schools and universities will see a $4 billion boost, health care spending will rise $1.2 billion, while transfers to local government will drop $2.1 billion. The 74-year-old Governor said he aimed to focus education spending on the neediest students and districts, such as kids in poor areas like Compton, California. Brown, a Democrat with a national reputation as a liberal, plays up his penny pinching in California. He has repeatedly stressed the need for spending restraint, even amid signs the state economy is picking up. California job growth tops the national average, unemployment has fallen below double-digit levels for the first time in nearly four years, and voters in November approved a tax increase that closed most of the lingering budget gap. The state Department of Finance on Thursday projected unemployment will fall to 9.6 percent this year and 8.7 percent in 2014. California faced deficits of $9 billion just a year ago and $25 billion two years ago. Brown noted that federal government issues could challenge California's forecasts and warned the state not to get over exuberant. "It's very hard to say no. That's going to be my job," he said. Signs of improvement in the state's economy have raised hopes among some liberals that cuts made to healthcare and welfare programs of the last few years can be rolled back. Democrats won a supermajority in the state legislature in November's vote, giving them the power to raise taxes without Republican support. Republican State Assembly Leader Connie Conway said she supported Brown's messages of fiscal restraint and support for education.
Actually no. It's "projected". And not only that, but the projection is based on a very very strong economic recovery. Same game that Obama is playing. Obama's administration sees GDP growth back to 4% next year which is a joke. Governments always play these games. What's end happening, at least for the last 100 years is the economy grows slower then expected and the government spends more then expected. So no, not good job.
They currently have a surplus this year with only 5 months left to go That leaves a surplus of $851 million for the year, in addition to a projected $785 million surplus for the current fiscal year, which ends in June, allowing the state to put $1 billion toward a rainy day fund.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/cal...01/california-budget-jerry-brown-surplus.html Key quotes: "Jerry Brown predicts California budget surplus by end of next year" "Brownâs budget predicts only the second budget surplus in the last decade, with an $851-million surplus projected at the end of the 2013-14 fiscal year -- if all his proposals are approved by lawmakers."
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/blogs/prop-zero/Opinion-A-Budget-Surplus-In-California-179392181.html "When is a prediction of a $1.9 billion shortfall actually considered good news? In deficit-battered, recession-weary California, that's the case." "In fact, the report floated the possibility of the state actually running a surplus of up to a billion dollars by 2014." "But no one should break out the champagne just yet. First, use of the term "surplus" gives the state's budget-writers heartburn, since revenues fluctuate all the time. Second, and more importantly, this glimpse of a recovery depends to an enormous degree on Gov. Brown's ability to hold the line on new spending. After years of cuts, there's a lot of pent-up demand. Everyone will have their hand out." "With Democrats sewing up a super-majority in the legislature, there are no Republican hold-outs to block spending increases. Even Gov. Brown, who has vowed to exercise restraint, could find himself outflanked if Democrats show enough unity to override a veto."
That was Nov,its Jan and CA added a shitload of new taxes in Nov so its possible that that 1.9 billion can be a surplus Considering they were projecting a 41 billion dollar deficit in 08 its still a great job It sounds strange, until you consider that it sounds a whole lot better than the staggering $41 billion deficit projected at the end of 2008 -- and much better than the $25 billion hole that the state's Legislative Analyst was forecasting in 2010. And much more rosy than the $16 billion shortfall Gov. Jerry Brown was projecting just last spring.