Budget choices should reflect our collective values, priorities, and ideals, and this depends on budget deliberations that are fact-based. The Budget Center works to make budget issues — and the budget process itself — more accessible and easier to understand, so as to broaden participation in the debate and foster policies that work for all Californians, especially low- and middle-income individuals and families.
Budget
Featured
Report
2018-19 State Budget Invests in Reserves and an Array of Vital Services, Sets Course for Future Advances
This ‘first look’ analysis examines Governor Brown’s finalized state budget package for 2018-19, the state fiscal year which will begin on July 1, 2018.
Data Hit
Since 2007-08, Spending Per State Prisoner Has Increased More Than Twice as Fast as Spending Per K-12 Student
This Data Hit shows that spending per state prisoner has outpaced spending per K-12 student in California and that ongoing overcrowding in prisons has resulted in higher costs per prisoner.
Fact Sheet
CalWORKs Grants Are Overdue for a Significant Investment
This Fact Sheet shows that CalWORKs grants remain below the federal deep-poverty line. The 2018-19 proposed state budget does not increase grant amounts or reinstate the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) despite the fact that state revenues are projected to exceed expenditures by billions of dollars.