Senator Jim Nielsen, R-Red Bluff, today issued the following statement on the passage of the Democrats’ Budget Act of 2021:

This is a fake budget and the Democrat-controlled budget process, with no public input or transparency, is a sham.

Over the years, there have been a number of challenging budget bills with deficits.  This year, California has a substantial surplus.  The temptation is to spend it and that’s exactly what the Democrats are doing.

The Democrats’ irresponsible budget is funding long-term spending using short-term dollars, which might further burden future budgets and get the state, as it has before, into financial trouble.

Following the Budget Act will be dozens of so-called budget trailer bills.  Many will contain major policy provisions that will circumvent the normal deliberative legislative process.

Today, I argued for caution and a ‘No’ vote.