Gavin Newsom’s Budget Defunds Public Safety, Expands Climate Programs Amid Massive Deficit

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California proposed cutting from the state’s public safety budget to address a $27.6 billion fiscal deficit while also expanding climate-related programs.

Newsom proposed revisions to the 2024-25 fiscal budget in May which cut $80 million from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and $15 million from Department of Justice (DOJ). The proposal includes moving $1.7 billion from the General Fund to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), specifically for “equity programs” and other “climate priorities.”

The changes would reduce prison capacity by 4,600 beds across 13 prisons, cut funding for law enforcement training and cut $4.4 million from county probation departments. They also include a $97 million cut for court trial operations.

Over the next five years, Newsom proposed moving $3.6 billion from the General Fund to the GGRF, “including transit programs, clean energy programs, zero-emission vehicle programs, and nature-based solutions programs.”

In San Francisco, 8,686 reported thefts, 1,962 reported burglaries and 2,298 reported motor vehicle thefts have occurred since the beginning of the year, according to the San Francisco Police Department.

Despite cutting the Department of Social Services state expenditure fund by more than 10%, the May Revision claims it “maintains current service levels for key health care, social services and other critical programs.”

Newsom is “not proposing new taxes,” according to one May Revision fact sheet.