California lawmakers approve a budget ‘framework,’ meeting their deadline. But negotiations with Newsom continue.

California lawmakers passed a budget bill Thursday, meeting a constitutional deadline, but it lacked support from Governor Gavin Newsom and does not represent a final spending plan.

The $227 billion budget bill is an agreement between lawmakers in the Senate and Assembly on filling a $32 billion deficit. But sticking points remain between Newsom and the Legislature on several key issues, including a proposal from the governor to fast-trask sweeping changes to state environmental law in order to speed new infrastructure projects. 

It passed the Assembly and Senate Thursday morning on party-line votes in both chambers. 

Republicans voted against the bill and criticized the high levels of state spending despite economic uncertainty and a large deficit.

“It is disappointing to see my Democratic colleagues pass a budget that overspends,” said Sen. Roger Niello of Fair Oaks, the Republican vice chair of the Senate Budget Committee. “This budget relies on unrealistic revenue assumptions and will lead to multi-year deficits.”

By approving the bill Thursday, lawmakers met their deadline to pass a state budget bill by June 15 and will continue collecting their pay and per diem. 

Assembly member Phil Ting, the Democrat who leads the Assembly Budget Committee, said negotiations with the governor are “very, very close” and lawmakers could vote on a final budget agreement “very shortly.” 

Newsom’s deadline to sign a final budget agreement is June 30. 

Ting touted new funding for child care providers, who have not seen their state subsidies increased since 2016. The measure also includes a partial restoration of funding for the state’s struggling public transit systems, funding increases for K-12 and community college, and $1 billion in new funding for cities and counties to address homelessness.

The budget leaves $37 billion in the state’s rainy day fund and other reserve accounts, which lawmakers noted could be drawn from if the economic picture worsens. 

The governor proposed filling the projected deficit through a mix of spending cuts, delaying spending to future years, and a $1 billion bond for new climate projects, which would require voter approval. 

Some climate programs would receive cuts under the plan approved Thursday. 

“We talk about some of the climate priorities we couldn't fund,” Ting said. He added climate is “still a major priority” and said the budget bill still includes funding for programs to combat and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Republicans also raised oft-repeated concerns with the budget process, particularly the closed-door negotiations between the state’s top Democratic leaders on an annual spending plan. 

Vince Fong, the Assembly’s budget vice-chair and a Republican from Bakersfield, called California’s budget-crafting process “broken” and said “this is not a process that we should continue to replicate.”

Another GOP lawmaker, Assembly member Devon Mathis, proposed a special legislative session after the mid-October tax filing deadline to refine a budget when state revenues have been collected.