After a month of negotiation and uncertainty, the Legislature officially passed the 2024-2025 budget on June 13, 2024. It is now up to Governor Newsom to approve and sign the Budget Bill Act within 12 days. The new fiscal year begins on July 1, 2024.
What’s In the Budget?
Since the May Revise, the Legislature has stood firm against the cuts proposed by the Governor. The budget bill now on Governor Newsom’s desk includes:
- Codifying the 2021-2022 Budget Year agreement to expand child care spaces by 200,000 to be completed by 2028.
- Continuing funding child care spaces in the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children
- Creating a child care reversion account so funding set aside for child care remains in child care rather than returning to the state General Fund.
- Requiring the Department of Social Services to report about the implementation of rate reform through January 2026 to help with the transition of new child care payment rates.
- Requiring the Department of Social Services to stop using a payment limit based on private market rates if the Department pays child care providers using a Regional Market Rate beginning in 2025-2026.
What Happens Next?
Governor Newsom must sign the Budget Bill Act by June 30, 2024. Once the budget is signed, the Legislature begins to work on trailer bill language, which is where they give more details about how the money in the budget will be spent.
