Votes on an early action “budget bill jr.” (SB 100/AB 100) are likely on Thursday, April 10. California’s Assembly and Senate have scheduled committee hearings prior to those votes. The identical bills were published online on Saturday morning, April 5. The Assembly Budget Committee analysis is online here, and the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee analysis is here.
A “budget bill jr.” amends a prior budget act, and “early action” budget bills are passed every spring. SB 100/AB 100 amends the 2024-25 budget act (the eighth budget bill jr. to do so) and the 2023-24 budget act (the seventh such budget bill jr.).
This note summarizes key items in SB 100/AB 100.
Begins Appropriating Bond Funds for Wildfire and Forest Resilience. SB 100/AB 100 includes $181 million of appropriations from the wildfire and forest resilience section of the climate bond passed by voters in November 2024. These funds principally are Proposition 4 allocations to the state’s conservancies, such as the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. In SBX1 3, passed in January 2025, the Legislature expressed its intent to begin appropriating wildfire and forest resilience funds in early action, and this budget bill jr. fulfills that intent. The June 2025 budget bill likely will appropriate more Proposition 4 funding.
(At the bottom of this note is a full list of Proposition 4 wildfire and forest resilience bond funds appropriated in SB 100/AB 100.)
Expands Eligible Uses for Wildfire Recovery Funds. In ABX1 4 and SBX1 3, the Legislature approved up to $2.5 billion for response and recovery efforts related to the January wildfires in the Los Angeles area. When the $2.5 billion figure was being developed in the days after the wildfires started, it was unclear that the federal government would front most costs for debris removal, which it has been. Accordingly, as of March 31, only about $286 million of that $2.5 billion had been distributed to state department budgets. Much of that money has always been expected to be reimbursed by the federal government.
SB 100/AB 100 authorizes more uses of the $2.5 billion General Fund pot, including:
Temporary backfills of property tax losses related to the Eaton and Palisades Fires for 2024-25 and 2025-26. The state often provides temporary property tax backfills to local governments after major natural disasters. While the precise cost of this backfill will not be known until later, the Legislative Analyst’s Office has estimated 2025-26 property tax declines due to the wildfires at $100 million to $200 million. (School and community college district property tax backfills are not included in SB 100/AB 100, pending action on the Proposition 98 school funding plan in June.)
Use of the state’s ample cash resources to advance funds to Los Angeles County and its cities for unmet wildfire response and recovery needs. This state cash flow assistance, via CalOES, is a new concept and seemingly could result in hundreds of millions of state costs. Eventual federal reimbursements of these local response and recovery funds, to the extent reimbursements are received, would be deposited back to the state General Fund. This state funding cannot duplicate or replace benefits in existing assistance programs.
Provides Funding So Medi-Cal Can Pay Its Bills Through June. As disclosed recently, the administration asked for added appropriations to the Medi-Cal program in early action so the program can keep paying its bills to providers, hospitals, and others through June. For this purpose, SB 100/AB 100 increases Medi-Cal’s 2024-25 General Fund appropriation by $2.8 billion and its federal funds appropriation by $8.25 billion—both increases similar to those identified in January budget estimates. In June, the 2025-26 budget package will “true up” those numbers based on new estimates released in May, and the Legislature may need to consider changes that reduce cost growth in the program. The May estimates are likely to highlight further the program’s cost overruns, such as those related to growing caseload and pharmaceutical costs.
Other Provisions. SB 100/AB 100 includes various other smaller and technical provisions, such as:
Authorization for property tax postponement disbursements to exceed statutory limitations this year on the amount available for manufactured homes.
A technical adjustment to the line item for the California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program to ensure $20 million of previously budgeted funds is disbursed.
Authorization of more funding for the Foster Family Home and Small Family Home Insurance Fund.
Authorizing $1 million of funding to the Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team for technical assistance to school districts affected by the Los Angeles wildfires.
Clarification that the state’s Administrative Procedure Act does not apply to guidelines used in administering General Fund dollars appropriated for the FARMER Program in 2024-25.
Approving $17 million more funding from the Enhanced Fleet Modernization Subaccount, prioritized for districts that have insufficient funding to meet processed demand for the Clean Cars 4 All Program.
Approving $7.65 million to extend a contract for CalOES’s operational observer that monitors utilities’ implementation of measures to mitigate the risk of wildfire ignitions and reduce public safety power shutoffs.
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The full list of Proposition 4 wildfire and forest resilience bond appropriations in SB 100/AB 100 (all authorized in subdivisions of Section 91520 of the Public Resources Code) follows:
$30,904,000: Sierra Nevada Conservancy, section 91520(h) of the Public Resources Code (PRC).
$23,524,000: California Tahoe Conservancy, section 91520(i) of PRC.
$31,349,000: Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, section 91520(j) of PRC.
$30,904,000: State Coastal Conservancy, section 91520(k) of PRC.
$30.904,000: San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, section 91520(l) of PRC.
$23,524,000: San Diego River Conservancy, section 91520(m) of PRC.
$10,000,000: Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, to fund training center infrastructure for a fire resiliency center for the Karuk Tribe, section 91520(e) of PRC.
These amounts for the conservancies generally exhaust the amount for projects in each of the listed PRC subdivisions, not including funds authorized in Proposition 4 for statewide bond expenses and costs for implementation and administration of the bond funds.