Governor Brown's 2018-19 May Revise Budget Proposal May 14, 2018 Uncategorized General Fund, Proposal 0 Overview Today, Governor Brown released his May Revise proposal for fiscal year 2018-19. The May Revise includes total General Fund expenditures of $137.6 billion, an increase of $10 billion or 8.3 percent over the current year. Additionally, General Fund revenues are up $8 billion through 2018-19 compared to the January projections. The Administration is proposing to use the majority of the increased revenue to pay for higher program costs and ongoing commitments, including nearly half required for Proposition 98, K-12 funding. With the remaining funds, the Administration proposes to fund the following one-time proposals: $2 billion in infrastructure spending to address the state’s massive liabilities from years of deferred maintenance. $359 million to address homelessness. $312 million for enhanced early detection of mental health problems and the education of mental health professionals. Medi-Cal The May Revise continues the Administration’s commitment to maintain Proposition 56 funding to provide supplemental payments for Medi-Cal providers; however, claims for physician payments for the designated CPT codes were lower than expected. As a result, expenditures in the current fiscal year are also lower than expected. The total dollar amount allocated for physician payments remains unchanged at $1.3 billion and any funds unspent in 2017-18 and 2018-19 will rollover for expenditure in 2019-20. University of California (UC) Graduate Medical Education (GME) Funding The May Revise maintains the allocation of $40 million for GME as required by Proposition 56. Additionally, the May Revise includes $55 million one-time General Fund to support psychiatric graduate medical education programs serving Health Professional Shortage Areas or Medically Underserved Areas, which is part of a larger package of mental health proposals that the Governor is putting forward. CMA is currently in the process of confirming that this additional General Fund effectively undoes the “fund swap,” which previously cut $50 million from the UC’s budget and backfilled it with Proposition 56 dollars; however, because the General Fund dollars are only available on a one-time basis, it is unclear how the Proposition 56 funding will be allocated beyond 2018-19. Next Steps Beginning next week, the budget subcommittees in both houses of the Legislature will hold hearings during the two weeks leading up to Memorial Day weekend to deliberate on the May Revise issues and take action on all of the issues that have been heard since January and held open. CMA will continue to advocate for our budget priorities. For more information or questions, contact Michelle Baca, Associate Director, Government Relations, mbaca@cmanet.org. Comments are closed.
