Opinion: State’s Budget Deficit Has Been Decades In The Making

From CalMatters:

By Guest Commentary published: June 10, 2020

By Ronald Stein, Irvine

Re “ ‘Mutually repugnant:’ Gov. Newsom and lawmakers pursue budget compromise”; June 7, 2020

Gov. Gavin Newsom requesting federal aid for the state’s self-inflicted financial woes is outrageous as California’s forecasted budget deficit has been decades in the making.

The COVID-19 carnage on the job market has exposed decades of poor planning, and bizarre laws and regulations by California’s one-party state.

The state has chosen to rely on an elite few to fund the general fund and to impose the highest costs of labor, electricity and fuels in the country on its own. The state is now forecasting the largest budget deficit in decades from an unsustainable formula that will stagnate the state’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic for years.

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics. Sign up for our newsletters and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.