Last month, California lawmakers approved a budget that will increase the Department of Motor Vehicles’ budget by over $242 million. This 17 percent increase means that the DMV’s total budget is now $1.36 billion. The increase was approved to help the DMV promote and navigate ongoing implementation challenges for the federally mandated REAL ID program. […]

California lawmakers passed a $214.8 billion budget deal last week and are still working on trailer bills, which can be passed after the main budget bill is passed. The budget bill will go into effect on July 1, the start of the fiscal year, and will outline the state’s spending plan until next year’s budget. […]

In late February, a nonpartisan report from the California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) claimed that an account used to fund 95 percent of California’s Department of Motor Vehicles’ expenses will soon become insolvent. LAO predicts that the $3.9 billion Motor Vehicle Account will collapse in a few years, which will affect funds for the California […]

California’s new governor, Gavin Newsom, unveiled his first California budget proposal last month and it’s an $8 billion increase over Jerry Brown’s last budget. Governor Newsom plans on pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into housing and homelessness. These two issues were a major part of his campaign last year that he promised he would […]

The California Department of Motor Vehicles is warning lawmakers that Californians could experience longer wait times if it doesn’t get more money from a special budget boost it requested. The budget request was submitted by the DMV last week for $40.4 million to keep its offices operating with fairly short wait times. According to the […]

According to the Los Angeles Times, the California High Speed Rail Authority will have to increase daily spending by up to nine times over the next four years in order to hit its 2033 deadline and $77 billion budget. Shockingly, the California bullet train project has cost state taxpayers an average of $3.1 million a […]

According to California Highway Patrol (CHP) records, over $1.6 million is currently budgeted to protect the six down-ballot officers. The six down-ballot officers are Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, state Controller Betty Yee, California Treasurer John Chiang, state Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, and Secretary of State Alex Padilla. Governor […]

When the California High-Speed Rail Authority awarded its first contracts for construction of the bullet-train route in Fresno and Madera counties in 2013, the cost to move utilities such as AT&T and PG&E out of the way was estimated at about $25 million. Unfortunately, that figure has been severely underestimated. Now, five years later, the […]

The economy in the Bay Area is booming, yet for people under the age of 40 and for renters, there is a high chance that they don’t travel or go out to eat much, and they probably have to cut back on groceries. Where is most of their money going to? According to a five-county […]

In 2014, voters passed an initiative that forced lawmakers to save money in flush years. It turns out that California’s budget reserves are approaching a point to where the state, by law, can’t save any more money. The state is on pace to fill the reserves with $13.5 billion by July 1, 2019, but some […]