Gov. Jerry Brown announced the details of his 2018-19 General Fund budget plan, the last of his governorship, on Wednesday. The $131.7 billion proposal includes a number of goals, including filling the state’s rainy day fund to its constitutional target, implementing California’s K-12 Local Control Funding Formula two years ahead of schedule and providing $4.6 billion for the first year of a 10-year transportation improvement plan.

“California has faced ten recessions since World War II and we must prepare for the eleventh,” Brown wrote in his budget letter to the state legislature. “Yes, we have had some very good years and program spending has increased steadily. Let’s not blow it now.”

One of the biggest goals involves filling the Rainy Day Fund with a $3.5 billion supplemental payment plus a constitutionally required transfer. Both payments would bring the Rainy Day Fund’s total to $13.5 billion. Proposition 2, which was passed by voters in 2014, established a constitutional goal of reserving 10 percent of the taxes in the Rainy Day Fund. By the end of the 2017-18 fiscal year, the fund will have a total balance of $8.4 billion, equaling 65 percent of the constitutional objective.

Another goal includes providing more funding for education. In a news release, Brown said full implementation of the LCFF, which was enacted in 2013 to increase support for the state’s neediest students and allow school districts to have more flexibility over how money is spent in schools, is two years ahead of schedule. The budget aims to provide $3 billion to school districts and proposes a requirement for districts to create a link between their local accountability plans and their budgets to show how increased funding is being spent.

The budget also plans to spend the first of the $55 billion provided by the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, which aims to provide long-term funding for state and local transportation infrastructure over the next decade. The 2018-19 budget will include $4.6 billion in transportation funding, including $2.8 billion on high priority investments to fix neighborhood roads, state highways and bridges; $721 million for investing in the improvement and modernization of local passenger rail and public transit; $556 million to invest in trade and commute corridors; and $200 million for matching locally generated funds for high-priority transportation projects.

Other goals outlined in the budget include a $570 million increase for community colleges, a 3 percent increase for colleges in the University of California and California State University systems, continuing to provide funding to increase health care coverage to low-income Californians under the Affordable Care Act, paying down debts and liabilities and continuing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.

Solano County representatives were generally enthusiastic about Brown’s proposal. Assemblymember Tim Grayson, who represents Benicia as part of the 14th Assembly District said in a statement that the proposal would work toward all Californians and suggested that any surplus money should be invested in the state’s future.

“Whether that investment manifests as paying down pension obligations, continuing to combat the housing crisis or saving more in the rainy day fund, it is crucial that we use this opportunity to help solidify our state’s financially solvent future,” he said.

Sen. Bill Dodd, who represents Benicia in the state Senate, was generally receptive to the proposal but felt more money should be provided to wildfire relief efforts. Dodd’s district, which includes all or portions of Napa and Sonoma counties, was heavily impacted by the wildfires in October.

“Supporting wildfire recovery and reducing fire risk must be top priorities in the budget,” he said in a statement. “I believe Governor Brown’s budget reflects a thoughtful starting point for this year’s budget negotiations. I will be working with the administration and my colleagues in the Legislature to expand our efforts on disaster recovery and preparedness.”

“This will be Governor Brown’s final budget, and he has continued his record of proposing thoughtful spending,” Dodd added. “It’s absolutely critical that the state pay down debts and building our rainy day fund, while investing in critical services.”

One of these critical services, Dodd said, was education. The senator recently introduced a bill to provide universal preschool to all 4-year-olds in California.

Republicans in the state Senate were supportive of the Rainy Day Fund proposal but felt other areas would only raise taxes.

“My Senate Republican colleagues and I are advocating for a pragmatic ‘2-2-2’ framework that ensures the surplus will not be squandered on spending we cannot afford,” Republican Leader Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) said in a statement. “The governor’s budget already sets a new record high of $132 billion in spending. Senate Republicans stand ready to help the governor pass a fiscally responsible budget for all Californians.”

“Governor Brown’s budget only proves what Republicans have been saying all along: Taxes are too darn high,” Sen. Tom Berryhill (R-Modesto) said in a statement. “Instead of spending the significant surplus on new government programs that will only lead to even higher taxes in down years, let’s at least put the money to good use by paying down pension debt, investing in local communities and protecting against economic downturns in the future.”

The full summary of Brown’s budget proposal can be found at www.ebudget.ca.gov.

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