For the last few years, California’s personal income tax collections have jumped to unprecedented levels. Sales tax collections, same thing. And yes, corporate tax collections are at an all-time high.

Gov. Gavin Newsom just signed the last budget of his first term, $308 billion. Last year, he signed a $262 billion budget. And the year before that it was $222 billion.

The first budget he signed in 2019 was $215 billion.

All of this has meant that political fights in the Capitol over money were not about “more or less.”

The debates have been about “more or much more.” 

As this year’s legislative session ends, there will be no legislators who have had to vote on state budgets during the Great Recession, when the choices were between “less and how much less.”

A few days ago, the Legislature’s top fiscal analyst announced that state revenue projections for this year’s new budget are already $5 billion less than they were in May.

We don’t know if or how far those projections will fall. We do know that the political clouds are darkening and may impact how workers’ compensation “reforms” may be shaped in 2023.

This opinion is republished, with permission, from the California Applicants' Attorneys Association website.