California’s Jerry Brown Has an Enviable Surplus. He Wants to Save It
- Next fiscal year’s surplus grows to $9 billion from $6 billion
- Brown has focused on building reserves for inevitable downturn
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California Governor Jerry Brown unveiled a $137.6 billion budget Friday that would use a $9 billion surplus to pad the state’s rainy-day fund and cover one-time boosts to spending for infrastructure and addressing homelessness.
The surplus has grown from $6 billion projected in the governor’s initial $131.7 billion budget in January for the year that begins in July. The term-limited governor is directing most of the $9 billion surplus to savings, saying that a recession is bound to happen. This year’s plan spends $127 billion.