GOVERNOR BROWN RELEASES UPDATED 2016-17 BUDGET: Recommends No New Spending

GOVERNOR BROWN RELEASES UPDATED 2016-17 BUDGET

He recommends no new spending with tax revenues down $1.9 billion

News From the Capitol: 5.13.2016 by Mike Dillon & Christina DiCaro, CLA Lobbyists

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The May Revision includes two minor adjustments that were requested by the State Library:  an increase in $56,000 to account for a rent increase for its Sacramento facility, and $505,000 for “services, including publications, database subscriptions, and other resources.”

Highlighted below is additional funding that the Governor proposed for the California Library Services Act in his January Budget and is continued in the May Revise:

•Adding $1.8 million in ongoing funding to the current $1.8 million baseline

•Adding $3 million in one-time funding for the purpose of allowing the regional systems to explore more creative and effective ways to loan and share materials between libraries (e.g. “digital delivery.”)

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STATE’S LEGISLATIVE ANALYST RECOMMENDS LEGISLATURE REJECT CLSA PROPOSAL This week the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office, the non-partisan unit that advises the Legislature and provides annual analysis of the Governor’s proposed Budget, is recommending that the legislature reject the $3 million proposal relative to the CLSA due to lack of specifics about the proposed expenditure.

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Instead the Analyst suggests that the item be deferred in this Budget year, to make way for a year of planning by the State Library, which would include a “proposed timeline for development and implementation and expected outcomes.”  (However, this assumes that the Governor would include $3 million in next year’s Budget, which is clearly now an uncertainty given the declining state revenues.)

Next week the Assembly and Senate Budget Subcommittees on Education Finance will begin reviewing the Governor’s May Revision and will either accept, reject, or modify his January and May proposals.  These subcommittees are the critical first step in ensuring that new library funding is included in the Budget.  Without the support of the subcommittees, it is very difficult to include new funding for libraries down the road in the Budget negotiations.  The subcommittees are on schedule to conclude their work by Friday, May 27.  After that date, the full Senate and Assembly Budget Committees will meet, followed by the commencement of the powerful Budget Conference Committee process, where the final details will be reconciled between the conferees and the Governor.  READ MORE @