“Relative to budgets of the past, this budget is in good shape”, Brown said.

Gov. Jerry Brown holds a chart as he discusses his proposed 2016-17 budget. What does that extra money help fund?

“It would be shortsighted in the extreme to now embark upon a host of new spending only to see massive cuts when the next recession hits”, he said, pointing out that another recession probably is “not far off”. California gets $1.1 billion in federal matching dollars on that money and then the MCOs are reimbursed through the Medi-Cal services they provide. “We have had discussions with other justice partners on this issue, and those will continue”.

Brown has generally sought to restrain spending, sometimes clashing with fellow Democrats in the state Legislature who have called for expanding social welfare programs.

The total amount of the state budget is $122.6 billion.

CDA President Ken Wallis in a release said that “it’s time for the state to move away from the ineffective dental managed care plan models and develop and test new and sustainably funded dental care programs that provide better access to care” (CDA release, 1/7).

Nonetheless, the budget proposal highlights administration priorities for increased spending.

Last year, Brown proposed $3.47 billion for the courts, a $180 million boost over the previous fiscal year. General funding accounts for $122.6 billion, up by more than $10 billion from the current budget (Young, Sacramento Business Journal, 1/7). “We can not continue to delay the rebuilding of our transportation infrastructure”, continued Cannella. “The growth per student is about $3,600 since I was elected governor”, he said.

Assemblymember Kristin Olsen echoed Cannella’s opinion on the proposed budget’s record spending, and went on to address education reform. It calls for spending more than $2.8 billion for the Local Control Funding Formula, which focuses on students with the greatest challenges to success, bringing the formula to 95 percent implementation.

As Gov. Jerry Brown introduced his latest spending plan Thursday, he took a break from his typical warnings against exuberant legislative spending to put a damper on exuberance at the ballot box. Judges and court clerks recoiled at the idea of having their carefully built reserves stripped away, but the measure passed as part of the 2012-13 budget package over their objections and remains a part of the judiciary’s statewide fiscal policy. The broader managed-care organization (MCO) tax would replace a narrower levy set to expire at the end of June. Less than half of health plans in the state operate Medicaid MCOs. Twelve states have rolled out three-year demonstrations under the Affordable Care Act to improve coordination of health benefits for poor seniors eligible for both programs; without coordination, care can be frequently splintered and high-cost for both the federal and state governments.

He has generally taken a restrained approach to boosting spending, but Brown faces increasing demands to spend more.

$1.8 billion, including $1.7 billion in general funds, to support the Department of State Hospitals (FY 2016-2017 budget plan, January 2016).

Brown’s proposal also would keep tuition flat at University of California and California State University schools. Over the next decade, $36-billion would also be spent on state infrastructure to improve our highways and roads. Brown is allocating $71.6 billion in general fund money for K-12 education and community colleges.

The Department of Developmental Services expects to serve about 300,000 individuals by the end of the next fiscal year.

The budget also provides a cost-of-living increase for aged, blind and disabled Californians in the Supplemental Security Income/State Supplemental Payment (SSI/SSP) program- the first state increase in grant levels since 2006.

The state is entering a possible fifth year of drought, with reservoirs and groundwater supplies “significantly depleted”. Schools are guaranteed about 40 percent of general fund revenues under voter-approved Proposition 98. The current sum proposed for the courts is a $330 million increase.

Contributing reports by Allison Ong, Bruin reporter.