Policy Alerts

May 7, 2020 – Today, the California Department of Finance issued an alarming new fiscal outlook estimating a budget deficit of approximately $54.3 billion. The Governor and legislature must now grapple with these stark figures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which, as Finance characterizes it, have “caused enormous hardship for families, businesses, and governments across the world, the United States, and California.”

Jan Masaoka, CEO of CalNonprofits, a policy alliance of more than 10,000 nonprofits in California and the voice for California’s nonprofit community, offered this reaction:

“CalNonprofits’ top priority has always been to advocate for sufficient public investment in our communities and in the nonprofits that serve and speak for them.

The pandemic makes it even clearer that California’s nonprofits are central to the services supply chain that can keep our communities healthy and thriving. We are a vital part of the state’s economy, generating 15 percent of the Gross State Product and employing more than a million Californians.

As a voice for California’s 120,000 nonprofits, CalNonprofits stands with members of the California Congressional delegation and Governor Gavin Newsom who are insisting that Congress and the President immediately pass a $1 trillion relief package for state and local governments.

We support government budget and fiscal policies that provide the resources required to equitably and adequately sustain all Californians. To adequately protect Californians from the immense harm this pandemic has wrought, California must not cut the state budget and must continue to push for significant and immediate financial help from the federal government.

With adequate federal support, California can avoid damaging budget cuts and can implement policies that maintain and strengthen the government-nonprofit partnership crucial to providing the services and programs California’s communities so desperately need.”

Click here for a PDF of this statement.