California budget deal builds reserve, changes welfare rule

The Sacramento Bee reports:

Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature have reached agreement on a budget for the coming fiscal year that repeals a long-criticized rule limiting welfare payments for people who have more children, as well as making an optional $2 billion deposit into the state’s rainy-day reserve.

The $122.2 billion general fund pact includes $100 million more for child care and preschool programs in the coming year. Talks continue, meanwhile, on ways to increase housing affordability and fund programs paid for out of the state’s cap-and-trade program.

After years of unsuccessful attempts, abolishing the maximum family grant rule emerged as a budget priority this year for legislative leaders, the legislative women’s caucus, and advocates for the poor, who took to Twitter with frequent #RepealMFG posts.

Ending the rule, which prohibits increases in assistance for any child born into a family that had been receiving aid for at least the 10 previous months, will cost the state an estimated $100 million in the first year.

Here's a real incentive for many states to send their poor people to California on a one way ticket.