Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders on Monday agreed to a $310.8-billion budget spending plan that will reduce investments in fighting climate change and reflects a compromise on the governor's last-minute proposal to speed up infrastructure projects across California.
The 2023-24 budget deal, which lawmakers will vote on in a series of bills this week, ends weeks of infighting among Democrats that began after the governor introduced a package of infrastructure bills into the tail end of the budget process, including making it easier to approve his highly controversial plan to build a $16-billion tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to transport water south.
Newsom threatened to veto the Legislature's budget priorities over the last week unless they approved his infrastructure plan. The two sides ultimately settled on a deal that removes the delta tunnel project from the package but retains measures to reduce delays to other major projects due to legal challenges under California environmental law.
