California has so many plans to spend more money that actual government spending is at risk unless the state gets more money to spend on the plans, said Finance Director Keely Bosler.
Former Gov. Jerry Brown’s five-year plan to improve spending plans exceeded its budget in just three years, said Bosler, who is urging Gov. Newsom to spend more on a new plan to spend more or risk wasteful and opaque spending.
“California is committed to transparently spending more money every year,” Bosler said, “but our plans are at risk without spending more money on those plans.”
Gov. Newsom, who released his 2019-20 budget on Jan. 9, said he will release a new five year plan in the May Revise and compared the planning crisis to the homeless crisis.
“The rise in homelessness was driven by the unsheltered population, and we can’t let California’s plans to spend more suffer the same fate,” Newsom said. “If we don’t plan to spend more, we might spend more than we planned, and the most vulnerable among us will pay the price.”
