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All Over the Map

Newly updated to include breast cancer, prostate cancer, and spine procedures, this CHCF-sponsored research shows that practice patterns vary dramatically from place to place.

Medi-Cal Transforms

Medi-Cal is the main source of health insurance for one in five Californians. An updated report gives an overview of the program's key features, describes how the program is evolving, and examines the challenges ahead.

Obama Care in the Second Term

CHCF is a long-time sponsor of the UC Irvine Forecast Conference. A webcast of this year's conference on health policy in President Obama's second term is now available.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

July Report Finds Calif. Had More Than $18B in Outstanding Loans

On Monday, the state controller's office released a report showing that California had more than $18 billion in outstanding loans at the end of July after borrowing from special funds to cover daily expenses, the Los Angeles Times' "PolitiCal" reports.

The report found that the outstanding loans included $9.6 billion left over from June and $8.5 billion in new July borrowing.

Details of Report

According to the report, Controller John Chiang (D) used so-called high-speed accounting practices that involve borrowing money from special funds to pay bills and pledging to repay the amount when the state collects more tax revenue.

The report found that Chiang used high-speed accounting measures more often than usual in July. Chiang used 81% of funding available for short-term borrowing last month, an increase from 48.4% in July 2011.

The high-speed accounting practices are separate from loans taken out by the governor and lawmakers, which also have increased.

According to the report, the state has a total of $4.3 billion in outstanding loans from special funds, an increase of nearly 600% since 2008.

Reactions to Report

Jacob Roper, a spokesperson for Chiang, said the state borrowed what it did because "[t]hat's the amount of special fund borrowing necessary to carry out the state's budget."

H.D. Palmer -- a spokesperson for the state Department of Finance -- said the state has engaged in more short-term borrowing because it cannot get extra revenue until voters approve proposed tax increases in November (Megerian, "PolitiCal," Los Angeles Times, 8/13).

Three separate tax increase measures have qualified for the November ballot, including:

Reader Comments:
  • 2
  • 11/28/2012
  • Carry Wall

I might not be that informed, but isn’t $18 billion in outstanding loans a little bit too much for California. I realize that it is a big state, but still. And this is the amount only to cover daily expenses. I think that it is a high time to start making some cuts then. There has be a very serious budget reconsideration done effective immediately. Looking forward to updates.

  • 1
  • 09/27/2012
  • Amanda Green

The gap was opened by the state's most severe drop in revenues since the Great Depression, including a steep drop in personal income taxes and sagging retail activity as consumers reined in spending, and the long-running downturn in housing. Rising joblessness is also weighing on the state. Its unemployment rate jumped to 11.5 percent in May from 6.8 percent a year earlier.



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