Let’s just set the bottom line here before we go any further. As of February’s state budget planning for 2024-25, the formerly golden paradise on the West Coast of the United States known as California is in a financial chasm (aka deficit) of something approaching seventy-three billion – with a “B” – dollars.
That’s a whale of a negative number.
The biggest challenge facing lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom is the state budget deficit — and it just got bigger.
Today, the Legislative Analyst’s Office projected the shortfall as $15 billion higher, or $73 billion.
The analyst’s office had pegged the 2024-25 deficit at $58 billion in January, using Newsom’s revenue estimates when he presented his initial budget proposal of $292 billion.
On Friday, Newsom’s Department of Finance reported that preliminary General Fund cash receipts in January were $5 billion below (or nearly 20%)…
