LAO Projects Smaller State Budget Deficit, Highlights Budget Uncertainties, May 8, 2020
This morning, the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), the non-partisan budget advisor to the Legislature, released a Spring Fiscal Outlook looking ahead to the 2020-21 fiscal year. Although the LAO recognizes the dramatic economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, and corresponding deep budget deficits, their fiscal assessment is significantly less dire than the Fiscal Update that we wrote about yesterday, after it was released by the Governor’s Department of Finance (DOF). DOF projected a $54 billion budget shortfall, while the LAO projects the shortfall to be between $18 and $31 billion. It is important to note that these shortfalls assume no cuts to K-14 education – that is, continued funding at the 2019-20 level, adjusted for growth and COLA.
