Budget Subcommittee Spotlight: 05/03/2024

Subcommittee #3 (Health and Human Services)

Thinking Outside the Box to House Homeless Veterans. The subcommittee discussed implementation of Proposition 1, the recently approved ballot measure that will provide $6.4 billion in bond funding for new behavioral health treatment beds and for housing for homeless veterans. Senator Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) challenged the Newsom administration to "think outside the box" when allocating money to support veterans in need. The Senator mentioned a potential housing project that would be directly across the street from a veterans' hospital and care clinic. The Senator shared that in funding projects like that, not only would hundreds of veterans be saved from the dangerous tent encampments that currently surround the hospital, but the location would easily facilitate continued care at the hospital. The Senator said that the state needs to act smarter in allocating these new dollars to provide the "housing that veterans deserve." The subcommittee will continue discussion on this issue throughout the spring budget process.

Subcommittee #4 (State Administration and General Government)

Governor Continues Questionable Start-Up Costs Despite Deficit. The subcommittee heard various Governor's proposals for economic development, including a proposal for $12 million to prop up the CalSavers program. This unnecessary program mandates private participation in state-administered retirement plans and requires employers and employees to opt out, even though the plans are duplicative of those already available in the private market. CalSavers, which has operated for several years under General Fund support, would penalize businesses potentially thousands of dollars for failing to comply with its mandates. The program was supposed to be self-sufficient already, but the Governor would loan it more General Fund, despite the deficit, for several years more. As the state faces a budget deficit of up to $73 billion, the Governor has proposed a variety of cuts in other areas, including to programs for foster kids, but somehow continues to put more General Fund into a program that is unnecessary and punitive for employers.

Subcommittee #5 (Corrections, Public Safety, Judiciary, Labor, and Transportation)

Missed Opportunity to Improve Job Prospects for Prison Inmates. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) updated the subcommittee on a project to replace a warehouse at the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (formerly San Quentin State Prison) with a building complex designed for rehabilitative programming. When asked whether CDCR would be using inmate labor for any of the construction, the Department's representative responded it would not. Senator Kelly Seyarto (R-Murrieta) expressed his disappointment about the missed opportunity to provide inmates with marketable job skills, saying "What an ideal project to have people who we're trying to keep busy and give restitution to their victims to be actually working on something…they can take [those skills] into the real world when they're done." No votes were taken for this informational issue.

NOTE: Subcommittees #1 and #2 did not meet this week