SACRAMENTO, CA—After months of extensive budget negotiations, the Senate and Assembly announced an agreement on the 2023-24 fiscal budget, which protects the progress that California has made in previous years by preserving critical services, upholds California values, and implements responsible budget practices. This agreement satisfies the Legislature’s constitutional mandate to adopt a responsible and balanced budget for the fourth largest economy in the world.
As Chair of the Senate Budget Subcommittee 2 on Resources, Environmental Protection and Energy, Senator Becker has been instrumental in crafting a budget agreement that continues the progress that California has made on addressing climate change and protects our state’s precious natural resources.
“This budget agreement reinforces California’s role as a leader in protecting our environment and keeps California on a sound fiscal path by preserving critical services and investing in a clean and green future,” said Becker. “The Legislature’s budget plan rejects cuts to core programs, maintains planned increased funding for critical services, and provides new resources to address housing and homelessness.”
The Legislative Budget Agreement improves on the Governor’s May Revision by addressing the following key fiscal needs:
- Schools and Community Colleges: Provides $2.1 billion increase.
- Child Care: Provides $1 billion for temporary rate increases to support and stabilize child care providers of State Preschool programs.
- Public Transit: Provides $5.1 billion for transit across three years, with 100% flexibility for capital and operations expenses.
- CoveredCA: Provides $165 million ($330 million ongoing) from penalty funds to lower copays and deductibles of CoveredCA plans beginning January 1, 2024.
- Medi-Cal: Provides $10.3 billion of increases through December 31, 2026 from the fiscal benefit of the Managed Care Operations Tax, rather than the eight to ten year period proposed by the Governor.
- Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF): Provides $595 million in additional GGRF funding.
- Climate and Energy: Protects key investments in Coastal Resilience and Clean Energy.
- Higher Education: Avoids cuts and delays to infrastructure and student housing projects by shifting costs to bonds, expands financial aid programs to provide debt free college to foster youth, and provides ongoing increases to student support programs.
Budget Actions on Climate:
The budget agreement includes $7.5 million to implement SB 1203 (Becker, 2022), known as “California Zero” to make California government carbon neutral by 2035.
The agreement includes utilizing cap and trade funds, which fall under the jurisdiction of Budget Subcommittee 2, to invest in the following programs:
- Increasing funding to Cal Fire programs to $2.9 billion.
- $445 million for electric vehicle charging and incentives, including $250 million for the Clean Cars 4 All program.
- $331 million for the state low emissions transit capital program.
- $234 million for air pollution programs, $60 million for implementation.
- $100 million for FARMER.
- $35 million for the air pollution programs.
- $1.2 million for fire truck maintenance.
- $7.9 million and $3.4 million for the California Conservation Corps.
- $1.9 million for the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission.
- $6 million for technical assistance for tax credits.
- $2.8 million for clean job transition training programs.
- $10 million for an organic farmer transition program.
A final version of this Legislative Budget Agreement will be voted on this week and sent to the Governor.
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Senator Becker represents the 13th Senate District covering portions of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties and includes the cities of Atherton, Belmont, Brisbane, Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Half Moon Bay, Hillsborough, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Menlo Park, Millbrae, Mountain View, Pacifica, Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Bruno, San Carlos, San Mateo, South San Francisco, and Woodside.