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Californians reliant on state social services will likely have a harder time making ends meet next year, following the passage of Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget. The $92 billion budget proposal passed last week just barely in time, in the State Legislature with Democratic majorities in the State Senate and Assembly. However, lawmakers avoided dealing with the more controversial aspects of the Governor’s proposal such as cuts to state programs like Medi-cal and CalWORKS, leaving the specifics for how California will overcome a $15 billion deficit unresolved.

Senate and Assembly Democrats have until June 30 to reach an agreement with Gov. Brown regarding over 20 so-called “trailer bills” detailing the still unspecified aspects of the budget. Failure to do so will result in the state’s inability make payments to school districts, vendors, and elected officials. Republicans, who were largely absent from the budget process, voted against the proposal, labeling it incomplete and criticizing the inclusion of $8.5 billion dollars of revenue from the Governor’s future tax initiative.

Jerry Brown’s November ballot initiative would raise the state sales tax by a quarter of a percent for four years and increase the income tax on people earning over $250,000 per year for seven years. The resulting revenue would be used to replenish the state’s general fund and prevent a $5.5 billion trigger-cut to public schools and community colleges. It would not stop other proposed cuts, however, including $428 million reduction in funding to CalWORKS and a cutback of $1billion to Medi-Cal.

GUEST: Scott Graves, Senior Policy Analyst at the California Budget Project