Late last week, the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office issued its annual “California Spending Plan” report on the state budget. As you would expect, with a big-spending governor and a Legislature that wishes it could spend even more, things aren’t looking so hot for the Golden State’s finances.

“For the third year in a row, the state faced a budget problem, or deficit,” the report explains of the current fiscal budget. “Although the budget problem this year was smaller than in recent years ($15 billion this year compared to $55 billion in 2024‑25 and $27 billion in 2023‑24), addressing this year’s budget problem required the state to adopt more ongoing solutions.”

While some of these solutions came in the form of spending reductions, most of them came in the form of borrowi

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