California’s budget mess just got a whole lot messier — and a whole lot more embarrassing.
Top lawmakers sat on a staggering $2 billion accounting blunder for months while publicly warning of a looming budget crunch, according to a bombshell memo that’s now blowing the lid off the quiet deception.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration built its January budget proposal around a projected $2.9 billion shortfall — but that figure was quietly thrown into doubt after officials discovered they’d botched the math tied to the state’s massive pension system, CalPERS.
Instead of sounding the alarm, legislative leaders kept the mistake under wraps.
Top lawmakers sat on a staggering $2 billion accounting blunder for months while publicly warning of a looming budget crunch Anadolu via Getty ImagesThe error — actually two separate miscalculations totaling roughly $2 billion — was flagged as far back as February by the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, led by Gabe Petek. Yet despite months of budget hearings and public hand-wringing over deficits, the public was left in the dark.
“Estimate changes of this magnitude or greater have occurred in many years during my two decades of working on the state budget,” Jason Sisney, the state budget advisor for Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas told The California Post.
“The state budget is complex. Often, estimate changes go the other direction and cancel each other out. These are tracked in January and May budget revisions from the administration. This is standard practice.”
With Newsom’s revised budget due next month, the stunning error — and the months-long hush around it — is now front and center as lawmakers brace for yet another bruising budget fight. AP
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration built its January budget proposal around a projected $2.9 billion shortfall. X/@CAgovernorNewsom’s camp is now insisting it wasn’t really a mistake at all.
“There is no error. Since 2016, Finance has used the same methodology to reconcile these payments. Money is set aside in the budget each year, and is not distributed to departments or CalPERS,” H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the governor’s Department of Finance told The Post. “We always true up this amount after the fact. Because the true-up has now grown to a significant amount, we have decided to adjust this longstanding methodology going forward.”
Republicans aren’t buying it — and they’re hammering Democrats for what they see as a pattern of secrecy.
“This administration continues its track record of lacking transparency, preferring to keep the legislature and the public in the dark to avoid having to justify cuts while spending millions on their pet projects,” said Assemblyman David Tangipa, R-Fresno, who is the vice chairman of the Assembly’s Budget Committee.
With Newsom’s revised budget due next month, the stunning error — and the months-long hush around it — is now front and center as lawmakers brace for yet another bruising budget fight.
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