Brown California Budget May Be Credit ‘Crossroad,’ S&P Says
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California Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to pay down years of accumulated loans used to paper over past deficits may represent a “crossroad” for the state’s credit rating, the lowest in the U.S., Standard & Poor’s said.
The governor’s latest budget revision includes plans to repay $29 billion of an estimated $35 billion in deficit debt and loans by 2015. That’s twice as much as estimated in the current year budget. He said the state’s persistent deficit had declined to $9.6 billion from $15 billion because of better-than-expected income tax revenue.