Jerry Brown stresses need to prepare for economic downtu

Quoting Aesop’s Fable about the ant and the grasshopper, Gov. Jerry Brown waed Friday that the state needs to prepare for the next recession and cautioned against new spending commitments.

“The surging tide of revenue is begiing to tu,” the goveor said during a news conference in Sacrmaento to discuss his revised budget plan. “That’s why it’s very important and best that we prepare for a time of necessity.”

The ant and the grasshopper fable conces a grasshopper who spent the summer singing begging for food from an ant who stored up food for winter. While the state in recent years has seen revenues grow beyond estimates, the May revenue forecast has been cut by $1.9 billion to reflect poor April income tax receipts and mediocre sales tax receipts.

Even if voters extend Prop. 30 tax hikes to fund education, the long-term budget outlook is barely balanced, according to a news release from the goveor’s press office. When asked whether he supported extending the taxes, Brown said: “I’m leaving that to the people of Califoia.”

Democratic lawmakers in the state Legislature want to spend more on social programs. But as he’d done before in his second go-around as goveor, Brown cautioned against new spending that’s not backed up by new revenue.

“I know there’s all this need … but we have to live within the framework that we’re given,” he said, pointing to shows showing the volatility in capital gains tax revenue and the boom-and-bust nature of state finances.

The goveor also referred to a Moody’s assessment that put Califoia 19th among 20 large states in being prepared for the next recession.

The revised $122.2 billion budget – down from $122.6 billion proposed in January -- does include more money for education. There’s $2.9 billion more for the Local Control Funding Formula in an effort to give more money to under-funded schools, and $25 million in one-time money will go to the Califoia State University system to allow students to ea degrees more quickly.

In addition, the revised budget endorses a $2 billion bond from money originally targeted for mental health care to allow the Department of Housing and Community Development to focus on chronic homelessness.

The budget also includes more spending on services for the developmentally disabled and bigger payments to Medi-Cal providers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Advertisement