California Budget Crisis Timeline

July 1: As the new fiscal year begins, personal income, vehicle and sales tax increases enacted in 2009 will expire while $11 billion in state services will be cut, the result of a March vote by the legislature. 

June 29: Gov. Brown signs eight pieces of the budget into law.  For a detailed list of bills, click here.

June 28: Democratic lawmakers used their power of majority vote to approve a state budget that makes up for a remaining $10 billion deficit by using deep cuts to state programs, relying on $4 billion in projected revenues and creating new fees, but without the tax extensions Democrats sought.

June 23: Gov. Brown announces he is still determined to call a special election in the fall, allowing voters to weigh in on whether tax extensions are an acceptable way to balance the state’s budget.  Brown still needs four Republican votes, two from each house, to have enough support for the ballot measure.

June 21: State Controller John Chiang announces lawmakers cannot be paid starting June 16 until a balanced budget is presented to the governor. Chiang said the June 15 budget was out of balance by nearly $2 billion.

June 16: Gov. Brown announces via Twitter and YouTube his veto of the Democratic budget bill, claiming it “will not stand the test of time.”  Brown becomes the first California governor to reject a state budget.

June 15: California legislators approve a budget proposal with simple majority votes in both the Senate and Assembly.  The plan includes $150 million cuts from the UC and CSU systems, $150 million from state courts and $1.7 billion from the state’s redevelopment agencies, among other cost-cutting measures.


June 10: California’s Senate Republicans reject Gov. Brown’s plan to close a $10 billion deficit because it would extend tax and fee increases, set to expire at the end of June, until September when a voter referendum can be submitted to the public.

June 9: Gov. Brown disconnects nearly 30,000 state cellphones in an effort to save the state about $13 million.

May 19: California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) proposes possible alternatives to Gov. Jerry Brown’s claim that without his balanced approach, the only options are an “all cuts” budget or one comprised of “cuts and gimmicks.”

April 5:
The statewide network of childhood development programs, First 5, challenged Gov. Brown’s $1 billion cut from the organization.

April 4: Gov. Brown releases a statement announcing he has stopped budget talks with various members of the California Republican Party calling their budget demands “ever changing.”

March 24: Gov. Brown signs a bill that cuts $8.2 billion from the state deficit.  The bill increases community college fees from $26 per unit to $35 per unit, and defers $2.1 billion in funding to K-12 schools until 2012-2013.

March 17: Lawmakers approve a partial budget that includes $14 billion in cuts from social and medical programs, closing about half of the state’s $26-billion deficit.

March 7: Sean Egan, founding partner and president of credit rating agency Egan-Jones Rating Company, says California has a short amount of time to correct its $84 billion budget and $24 billion deficit before it falls into the ‘black hole’, a credit status that increases difficulty of independently entering the market.

February 23: Two-thirds of Republicans in the California Legislature announced they would not vote for tax increases and block efforts to include tax-hike measures on statewide ballots.

February 1: During his State of the State address, Gov. Brown urges legislators to put income and sales tax-extensions on the ballot in a special June election.

January 31: In his State of the State Address, Gov. Brown says California’s credit rating remains the lowest in the country.

January 21:
Gov. Brown declares a state of fiscal emergency in California.

January 10: Gov. Jerry Brown releases his budget proposal, which includes tax extensions as well as $12.5 billion in spending cuts.

January 4: Jerry Brown starts his first full day as California governor, inheriting a $25.4 billion deficit.
 

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