A positive budget

After long years of hardships and spending cuts, the time has come to reinvest in California.

That is why we very much welcome the budget that Governor Jerry Brown presented yesterday. This budget shows a marked contrast with previous years, increasing state spending by 9% to take advantage of a tax-revenue bonanza.

The governor remained faithful to his educational priorities, reinforcing the budget for the new local funding formula, which will mainly benefit minority students and English learners. Likewise, repeated tuition hikes in state universities will be a thing of the past.

It is worth mentioning that the spending plan is fiscally conservative. It creates reserves to respond to the volatility of the state’s tax base, which has contributed to the pronounced instability in recent years.

Increasing funding for health care and public assistance subsidies are also important. However, these increases do not fix the damage that numerous cuts caused. One of them, for example, is the need to raise the low reimbursement rate—one of the lowest in the country—for health care providers who treat MediCal beneficiaries.

The environment is another major priority that has its own money obtained through a program known as cap and trade. Nevertheless, these funds will mostly be used for the high speed rail project. There are other human aspects that are more urgent and involve fixing pollution-related damages, in addition to the future emission of greenhouse gases.

That being said, the budget does invest in material and human infrastructure to repair the deteriorating economic situation. This is the beginning of a review period in which we hope that much-needed fixes are made.