Newsom faces another multibillion-dollar budget shortfall in his last year as California governor

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said the state faces a $2.9 billion budget deficit this year, an amount significantly lower than what legislative budget analysts projected. The deficit, though small, could still require cuts and means the Democratic governor doesn’t have money to advance new programs during his last year in office. It’s the fourth year in a row that the nation’s most populous state faces a multibillion-dollar budget deficit.