CalWatchdog Morning Read – November 18

• LAO: State could withstand mild recession
• Newsom calls for higher-ed “sanctuary campuses”
• CA is the new Texas
• Border Patrol union likes Trump’s wall idea
• Covered California prepares for Trump

Good morning. TGIF. In non-Trump news, the state’s budget could survive a mild recession for four years without a tax hike or sharp cuts, according to a new report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

The LAO warned that the stock market fluctuations and other “volatile and unpredictable” economic factors make it difficult to project the state’s finances too far out. Regardless, the LAO estimates that the state would be fine through 2020-21. 

The projections would change with any new obligations, both at the state and federal levels.

Gov. Jerry Brown has been quick to veto new spending or tax cuts that aren’t paid for, like the ill-fated effort to remove sales tax on tampons and other feminine hygiene products, but the impending negotiations on transportation issues may call for new spending. The LAO also pointed to the possibility that a new president and Republican-controlled Congress may change federal policies that affect that state’s budget.

“Any such state or federal policy changes could have a significant impact on the state’s ‘bottom line,’” wrote the LAO. 

CalWatchdog has more. 

And now, in Trump-related news: 

• “As a growing number of California officials assail President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration policies, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday called on the state’s public university systems to declare themselves ‘sanctuary campuses’ to protect hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrant students from deportation,” reports Politico. 

• “Other California leaders rushed to join Rendon and [Kevin] de León in setting up the state as a liberal counterweight to Trump, laying the groundwork for four years of battles with Washington. Now, the circumstance in which California finds itself recalls that of a perennial rival: Texas playing the role of chief antagonist to President Obama.” The Los Angeles Times has more.

• “The National Border Patrol Council has high hopes for President-elect Trump’s border security policies. The union’s president, Brandon Judd, has been advising the Trump transition team. The union has encouraged the building of a border wall and changing enforcement policies put in place in the past four years.” The San Diego Union-Tribune has more. 

• “It was all hands on deck at Covered California’s monthly board meeting Thursday as leaders of the state insurance exchange and a panel of experts spent hours trying to divine a health care world according to President-elect Donald Trump,” reports The San Jose Mercury News. 

Legislature:

• Gone till December. 

Gov. Brown:

• No public events announced. 

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