California Governor, Lawmakers Set $9.6B Virus Spending Plan

Speaker 1: 00:00 A massive $9.6 billion pandemic recovery plan begins working its way through the California legislature today. State leaders and governor Newsome have already agreed on key aspects of the package, which include a one-time $600 stimulus check for the lowest income Californians. Plus more than $2 million in grants for small businesses. The state legislature is expected to fast track the economic stimulus package with approval coming as early as next Monday, Johnny Mia's reporter Katie or of [inaudible] politics and government desk. And Katie welcome. Thanks for having me, Maureen, who are the people who qualify for the state $600 stimulus checks? Speaker 2: 00:42 Well, as you mentioned, these are among California's lowest income earners. So people making under $30,000 a year, it also includes the undocumented people who are also low income earners, but who were left out of the original federal funded stimulus plan. And on top of that, it also expands the coverage to people who are enrolled in the CalWORKs programs. Also people who get SSI payments and another, uh, cash assistance programs for immigrants here in California. So really trying to hit more low incomes in the state in total, uh, they'll make a 5.7 million payments to low-income California. Speaker 1: 01:25 Okay then, and, and the first state stimulus plan for small businesses, if I recall correctly helped only a small fraction of the companies who applied, how was this plan different? Speaker 2: 01:36 Well, for starters, it's much bigger in January. The governor, um, proposed an additional $500 million in grants to small businesses on top of, uh, ones that had already been in place. This increases that to more than $2 billion and businesses can get up to $25,000 if they have been impacted by the pandemic. And it also allocates $50 million for a cultural institutions like museums and non-profits. Speaker 1: 02:05 So this multi-billion dollar stimulus plan includes a whole range of payments to various individuals from state subsidized childcare and preschool providers to community college students who need emergency financial aid, which parts of the package I wonder caught your attention. Speaker 2: 02:23 Well, certainly, you know, I cover childcare a lot. This includes $400 million in federal aid for childcare immediately. It also includes, uh, $850 million in fee waivers for places like bars and restaurants. You know, they have to pay fees to the, uh, Bureau of alcoholic beverage control. Those get postponed for two years, that also includes, um, people who have to pay barber and cosmetology fees. It also restores cuts to the CSU and UC system that have been made in the beginning of the pandemic. So it covers quite a lot of ground. How does the Speaker 1: 03:00 State plan to pay for this $9.6 billion stimulus package? Speaker 2: 03:04 Well, as I mentioned, there is some federal money in there, but bottom line, the state is just in a better position than it expected to be when the pandemic hit. And that's because, um, it didn't hit everybody equally. As we see low income earners were hit, especially hard while high income earners were more easily able to adjust to working at home. Also their stock investments continued to do well, which is a taxes on stocks is something that California relies heavily on. And so we're left with a $15 billion one time surplus, which is paying for a lot of this package. Speaker 1: 03:42 And to be clear, this state's stimulus package is completely separate from the Biden economic stimulus, which is still being hammered out in Washington, is California planning on getting funds from that proposal. If it comes to pass, Speaker 2: 03:56 It's hard to say right now, you know, uh, the house proposal at the moment calls for States to get $350 billion States and local governments, I should say a $350 billion in aid. We'll see if that remains, when the final package gets, um, gets hammered out. I do think just in general, the state is expecting more money from the federal government under the new Biden administration. And in fact, um, earlier a couple of weeks ago, the state announced that it has $1.2 billion from the federal government that came as part of their December relief plan, that they were able to pass on to counties, uh, for things like vaccine, uh, preparation and administration and COVID testing and tracing. So there is more money coming into California. I'm just not, we're not sure yet if there will be anything in this next COVID relief package. And if so, how large it will be. Speaker 1: 04:51 Is there a bi-partisan support for the state stimulus package? Speaker 2: 04:55 There is uncertain elements of it. For instance, the small business, uh, proposal is something that Republicans are already cheering. They have lobbied for more help for small businesses. It remains to be seen if they are on board with, you know, for instance, extending, um, direct cash payments to more Californians. And I'm sure we'll hear more about that in the debates about this package, as it moves forward, Speaker 1: 05:19 How quickly do state legislators want to see these checks in the hands of California's neediest? Speaker 2: 05:25 Well, they're hoping that for those who, um, get the state, the earned income tax credit and for the undocumented people who might qualify for the $600 tax payment that they could get those shortly after they filed their 20, 20 tax returns, um, people, uh, who receive CalWORKs and might get this direct benefit, could see, um, checks coming in mid April. So they do want to try and get this money out relatively quickly, at least in terms of how the state does things, uh, to the people that need it. Speaker 1: 05:53 I've been speaking with a reporter, Katie or of [inaudible] politics and government desk. Katie. Thank you. You're welcome.