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Senate budget committee reviews $321.1 billion package; votes deferred, AB 130 set for separate discussion
Summary
The Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee heard presentations on a multi‑bill budget agreement that the administration and Legislature negotiated, including AB 102 and AB 103 and a set of trailer bills. Committee members pressed staff on reserves, borrowing and process; several housing trailer bills were moved to separate consideration.
Chair Scott Wiener, chair of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, opened the hearing by saying the panel would take up a multi‑bill package negotiated with the administration and presented by the Department of Finance.
"The bills before us today represent a budget agreement with the administration. The budget agreement includes $321,100,000,000 in total spending, dollars 228,400,000,000.0 of which is general fund," Wiener said during opening remarks. He said the package, taken together with SB 101 (the budget act of 2025), balanced the 2025–26 budget and provided $15.7 billion in combined reserves.
Erica Lee of the Department of Finance gave an overview of the principal pieces included in AB 102 (the 2025 budget‑bill junior) and related trailer bills. Highlights she cited included preservation of Proposition 98 funding for K‑12 and community colleges, an increase to support universal transitional kindergarten, support for UC and CSU with limited deferrals and short‑term loans if needed, and targeted investments in housing programs such as the Low‑Income Housing Tax Credit and multifamily housing programs. Lee described an approximately $1 billion shift from the General Fund to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund for CAL FIRE and other climate and conservancy appropriations.
Department of Finance officials also summarized investments for wildfire recovery, a loan to Los Angeles for recovery work, targeted support for transit systems to avoid service reductions, and continued funding for long‑term care and in‑home support services. The presentation noted difficult tradeoffs in health‑care programs and that some Medi‑Cal changes remained in the package (details were the subject of a later discussion).
Committee members repeatedly pressed staff about the budget’s reliance on internal borrowing and reserves. Senator Sciarto questioned whether the plan relied on what he called one‑time sources and warned the arrangement left the state vulnerable to future downturns. Finance staff and the Legislative Analyst’s Office repeatedly said the package was balanced under current assumptions but that significant uncertainties remained and that subsequent trailer bills and implementation details could affect the final outcome.
The committee heard that AB 130, the housing trailer bill, would be presented and discussed separately and that AB 139 and AB 140 (labor MOUs) were deferred to a Monday hearing. The chair said AB 130 would be discussed and not voted on at this session.
The committee did not take any roll‑call votes on the package during the hearing. Staff said additional hearings and votes would follow on specific bills and trailer bill language.
Ending: The committee recessed into questions for the Department of Finance and set separate time to take up AB 130 and other trailer language; formal action and votes were deferred.
