Governor Jerry Brown Releases ‘May Revise’ Budget with New State Earned Income Tax Credit

Photo: Phil Konstantin via Flickr

On May 14th, the governor’s “May Revise” budget was released, which included a proposal for the first ever California earned income tax credit. The proposal would help the state’s working poor with an annual supplement, the average being $460 a year, contingent on family size and income.

However, Governor Brown’s revised budget did not provide benefit increases for a number of safety net programs, like the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program seniors and peoples with disabilities. The state portion of SSI has not seen a cost-of-living adjustment in the last ten years and has been cut substantially, leaving 84,827 seniors and people with disabilities in San Diego County living below the poverty level.  The budget revise also did not eliminate the CalWORKS Maximum Family Grant, which denies assistance to new children in families that received benefits 10 months before the child’s birth.   

The state legislature will release its own budget proposal shortly with an agreed upon budget due by June 15th.