Looking Backwards Monday, July 12, 2021
Edward Bellamy looked backwards for a period of over a century. Less dramatically over the past weekend, the state controller, Betty Yee, provided a look backwards over fiscal year 2020-21, the year that ended June 30th. On the tenth of each month, the controller provides a cash statement related to the state's general fund. So we now have a complete record of what actually occurred during the last pandemic-engulfed fiscal year. It might be noted, by the way, that the state's Dept. of Finance has not produced official figures for either the past fiscal year or the current one. Surprisingly, that lack of information is due to the fact that the budget for the current year which began July 1 still isn't quite cooked. Those who can remember back to the Schwarzenegger era and before will know that when budgets weren't finished on time, an unfolding crisis began to occur. Suppliers to the state weren't paid. Courts got involved. But then the voters approved Prop 25 which required the legislature to approve a budget on time or lose a day's pay for each overdue day. More importantly at the time when Republicans still controlled at least a third of the seats in one or both houses, Prop 25 changed the required vote for a budget from two thirds to a simple majority, allowing the Democrats to approve budgets without dealing with the Republican minority. On-time budgets resulted. But - after some litigation - courts ruled that it was up to the legislature to determine what a "budget" was. So the majority could pass something called a budget and meet the standard. What has emerged was a practice of passing something by the mid-June deadline and then continuing to negotiate with the governor. This time it seems, the negotiations have continued but enough of a budget was passed to keep the state in business, paying its suppliers, etc. For more on this process, see: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article252689888.html Now, let's look at the controller's data.
UCLA Faculty Association Blog: 3rd Quarter 2021
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