On Thursday, June 13 (ahead of the constitutional deadline of June 15th to pass a balanced budget for the next fiscal year) the Legislature passed the Budget Act of 2024 (Assembly Bill 107), as well as two additional budget related bills, Senate Bill 154 (Suspension of Proposition 98) and Senate Bill 167 (Taxation and Revenues). These measures now head to the Governor’s Desk, where he must act by June 27th. While the 2024-25 fiscal year begins July 1st, the result of ongoing budget negotiations may be reflected in a “budget bill junior” (likely AB/SB 108) or in other budget related bills, known as budget trailer bills.
RCRC has prepared some key highlights of the 2024-25 Budget Package, by topic area, that may be of interest to California’s rural counties. View the highlights here.
It should be noted, as in the past, this is budget legislation representing the Legislature’s priorities in negotiations with the Governor. The June 15 deadline was created in a 1970 voter-approved measure to require a legislative budget bill for gubernatorial action about two weeks before the start of the state fiscal year. In addition to the Budget Act, the legislature may also pass additional legislation, known as budget trailer bills. To learn more about the trailer bill content, visit the Department of Finance website where most of the content has been posted for the past several weeks or months. Although the trailer bills may address budget implementation, due to differences between the Legislative proposal and the Governor’s proposed May Revise, the “serious” conversations between the Governor and Legislative leaders continue in private.
To view RCRC's earlier highlights of the Governor's May Revise, find the Rural Rundown here.