Unexpected state revenue leaps to $6.6 billion
Blog by Evan Halper/Los Angeles Times
State revenue has rocketed far beyond projections, providing a $6.6 billion windfall that Gov. Jerry Brown wants to use to boost education spending and help repair California’s battered finances. In the revised budget plan Brown releases Monday morning, education spending would increase by about $3 billion over what he proposed in January. But Brown still hopes to maintain tax increases that are due to expire this year. The governor's budget says the revenue surge, which erases a substantial chunk of what had been a $15-billion deficit, is not enough to put the state in the black. Lawmakers are required by law to divert a substantial portion of any revenue spike to schools, unless they suspend the state funding formula, which Brown is not proposing. (more...)