How lawmakers decide CA budget

This is CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu, subbing for Lynn, who will return for Tuesday’s WhatMatters.

Today, budget subcommittees in both the state Assembly and Senate will hold hearings on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s revised budget and — staring down a massive deficit — consider which departments or programs get a cut in funding.

But as CalMatters Capitol reporter Sameea Kamal explains, lawmakers often lack sufficient information whether a state-funded program is working as intended. And in that vacuum,  spending requirements, politics and lobbying dictate the process for building a budget.

Analyses on the effectiveness of programs often come from the nonpartisan Legislative Analysts’ Office and state agencies, but 70% of state agency reports due last year had not been submitted.

Proposed changes to the budgeting process have mostly failed, although lawmakers have made attempts to scale up oversight on state spending. Sen. Roger Niello, a Republican from Roseville, proposed legislation this year to require clearer disclosure from state agencies, but the bill died last week.

Jesse Gabriel, an Encino Democrat and chairperson of the Assembly budget committee, wants more data to guide the budgeting process.

• Gabriel: “For us, that metric is not, did the money go out the door? But was it impactful? Did it make a difference in results for the people it was intended to serve?”

Reminder: The Legislature has until June 15 to pass its budget, or its pay stops.

Read more on how budget decisions get made in Sameea’s story.

Health care wages: Speaking of lack of information, a minimum wage increase for health care workers is scheduled to kick in June 1. Newsom says a deal is in the works so it doesn’t worsen the budget shortfall, writes CalMatters health reporter Ana B. Ibarra.

But there’s scant detail on what those changes to the phased-in $25 an hour wage might be and how they would affect workers.

Newsom has said he wanted to delay the raise. But that would mean he must sign legislation to push back the effective date within two weeks.

The lack of clarity left many health workers confused yet hopeful, and some employers are raising pay regardless. Health worker advocates are running ads to hold Newsom to the law he signed.

Read more on the issue in Ana’s story.

The lovefest for Donald Trump continued at the California Republican Party convention in Burlingame this weekend, as supporters sang high praises for the former president and expressed confidence that he will win in November.

Skipping out on all that chatter: Steve Garvey, the Republican running for U.S. Senate against Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff. It’s rare for a statewide candidate to miss their own party convention, especially in an uphill battle where mingling with party leaders and activists could help, as the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

But it would be in character for Garvey’s campaign: The former L.A. Dodgers star has made few public appearances and offered scarce details on his policy agenda. He appears to distance himself from Trump, offering vague answers to Trump-related questions during debates and declining to say whether he’d vote for Trump in November, despite having voted for him in 2016 and 2020.

His campaign spokesperson Matt Shupe did not return a CalMatters inquiry for comment on Garvey’s absence. But campaign manager Andy Gharakhani told the Chronicle it’s about independence.

Some Republicans said they understand that Garvey’s strategy is to court both Trump supporters and more moderate Republicans. But others were upset.

• Doris Gentry, Napa County GOP chairperson, to CBS News: “Steve Garvey, where are you? If you’re going to bat one out of the park, you should be here because we’re the people that are doing the batting for you.”

Where Garvey wasn’t, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem was. A rumored potential running mate for Trump, she is mired in controversies. In her new memoir, she told a tale of her shooting her puppy for being “untrainable” and also claimed she met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

In more political party news: The California Democratic Party also convened over the weekend and on Sunday released its endorsements for federal and state legislative races and its stances on ballot measures in November.

From CalMatters’ higher education reporter Mikhail Zinshteyn:

More than 1,500 graduate students, teaching assistants and researchers are expected to walk off the job at UC Santa Cruz today, launching the first labor strike over the University of California’s response to pro-Palestinian protests in the past month.

Workers will picket from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the two main roads leading into campus, disrupting package deliveries and transit into the university that’s become a hotbed for labor activity in the past few years.

The union, UAW 4811, won approval from its members last week to call for strikes at select campuses throughout the UC.

While many work stoppages are over pay and benefits, this one is in response to the union’s anger over the UC’s use of police to clear overnight encampments in support of Palestinians that propped up at multiple campuses. Some union members took part in those protests. The largely peaceful demonstrations sought to put pressure on the university to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, divest from weapons companies and cut various other economic ties to Israel.

Days after police swept the encampments at UCLA and arrested scores of protesters, the union filed an unfair labor practice violation with a state labor relations agency. The union filed similar violations after police cleared encampments at UC San Diego and UC Irvine that also led to arrests of protesters.

• The union, in its complaint: “By summoning the police to forcibly arrest and/or issuing interim suspensions to these employees, the University has violated their employee rights.”

The UC Office of the President argues that the strikes are illegal because its contract with the union contains a no-strike provision. Friday the UC filed its own unfair labor practice against the union. It seeks a state order to block the union from striking.

• UC, in a statement: “To be clear, the University supports free speech and lawful protests. Across the UC system, campuses have allowed — and continue to allow — lawful protests surrounding the conflict in the Middle East.”

Read more on the strike in the story.

An initiative to roll back Prop. 47 — a 2014 ballot measure that reduced charges for some petty thefts and drug offenses from felonies to misdemeanors — is likely to go before voters in November. Proponents argue the proposal would reduce homelessness. But is it misleading? Find out what some experts told CalMatters homelessness reporter Marisa Kendall and me.