Newsom frames California as model in final State of the State, unveils budget priorities

Governor Gavin Newsom delivered his State of the State address to a joint convention of the California Legislature, framing California as a "beacon" of active governance and previewing a budget he will submit to lawmakers. "We built the future," Newsom said, arguing the state should respond to national policy shifts with robust state-level action.

Newsom previewed a general fund budget of $248,300,000,000 and said revenues were $42,300,000,000 higher than forecast, noting that figure did not yet include December receipts. He said the budget will rebuild reserves ($7,300,000,000), pay down long-term pension obligations (roughly $11,800,000,000 over several years), and include $3,000,000,000 toward pensions in the coming year.

The governor emphasized investments across education, housing, health care and climate resilience, and framed recent state litigation and policy actions as necessary pushback against federal measures he described as harmful to Californians. "We have 52 lawsuits... and as a consequence... we preserved about $168,000,000,000 in illegally frozen federal resources," he said.

He closed by urging continued investment in public services and climate resilience and by criticizing what he described as federal inaction on disaster relief, saying the president had not submitted a $33,900,000,000 disaster recovery request to Congress. The joint convention ordered the address printed in the legislative journal and then adjourned.