California Governor Jerry Brown Signs Budget

California Governor Jerry Brown has signed a roughly $90 billion spending plan into law for the fiscal year that starts on Sunday. It’s designed to close the state’s $16 billion deficit. The Governor’s signature came just hours before a midnight deadline to sign the main budget bill Democratic lawmakers sent him earlier this month.

It came with little fanfare, and his office did not release any details about his line-item vetoes. The spending plan includes cuts to welfare, social services and more. It also assumes voters will approve Brown’s tax hike on the November ballot.

If voters reject the tax, a series of automatic cuts would be triggered. Those cuts would allow public schools to eliminate up to three weeks of classes for each of the next two years. The budget builds a nearly one billion dollar reserve. That’s more than 100 million dollars larger than the spending plan legislative Democrats sent him earlier in the day. 

That could suggest the extent of the Governor’s line item vetoes. But Brown’s office says that information won’t be available until 9 o clock this morning.