California Legislature passes $215B state budget that includes more money for education, health care

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The California Legislature approved a $214.8 billion state budget that provides more money for education, health care, housing and other social services.

California has a large surplus allowing lawmakers to allocate more funding for social services but also to increase its Rainy Day Fund to $19 billion. Last year, then-Governor Jerry Brown emphasized the importance of filling up the state’s Rainy Day Fund to ensure California is ready for the eleventh economic crisis.

State lawmakers were also able to increase tax credits for the poor working Californians, provide tax cuts for small businesses, and pay down pension liabilities.

Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) said, “What a luxury we have, to get to stand here and argue over where we should put our savings, how we should spend some of the additional money we have to support struggling Californians,” according to USA Today.

State lawmakers are still in the process of finalizing some details of the budget and will pass so-called trailer bills to implement it. The more than 900 pages main budget bill approved by the Legislature on Thursday provide the major outline for state spending for the fiscal year 2019-20.