Sections of the California Budget Bill

In the 2025 California Legislative Session, Senate Bill 101 (Wiener) is the annual budget bill for the 2025-26 fiscal year that begins July 1. With hundreds of individual appropriation line items, as well as budget control language, there are dozens of sections of the bill. What are those bill sections?

Section 1.00 names the act as the “Budget Act of 2025.”

Section 1.50 established the formal and style of the budget bill. The Department of Finance is authorized to make specified revisions to appropriation schedules.

Section 1.51 provides that a citation to a budget act includes all acts amending that budget act.

Section 1.80 specifies sums of money are hereby appropriated and available for encumbrance or expenditure for the use and support of the State of California for the 2025–26 fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025, and ending June 30, 2026. All of these appropriations, unless otherwise provided, are to be paid out of the General Fund in the State Treasury. Capitol outlays are available as specified.

Section 2.00 contains the items of appropriation for the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of state government.

Then come the “General Sections Statewide.” Section 3.00 requires an appropriation for support include salaries and all other proper expenses, including repairs and equipment, incurred in connection with the institution, department, board, bureau, commission, officer, employee, or other agency for which the appropriation is made. It defines the terms “program” and “project.” It includes eight specified classes of expenditures.

Section 3.10 authorizes the Department of Finance to authorize subschedule transfers within individual capital outlay items of appropriation in those instances where the transfers are necessary for the efficient and cost-effective implementation of the projects funded by this act.

Section 3.50 states that, whenever an appropriation is made for support or other expenses for an institution, department, board, bureau, commission, officer, employee, or other agency, the specified items are to be charged to the appropriation from which salaries and wages are paid. For costs of any other employee benefits and the administrative costs associated with the provisions of these benefits established by any state agency legally authorized to negotiate and set salary and benefit levels for any month shall be charged to the same appropriations used for payment of salaries and wages from which the employee premium contributions for such month are deducted.

Section 3.60 provides the specified employers’ retirement contributions for the 2025–26 fiscal year that are chargeable to any item with respect to each state officer and employee who is a member of the Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) or the Judges’ Retirement System II and who is in that employment or office is to be the percentage of salaries and wages by state member category as specified. The Director of Finance may adjust certain amounts in an item. There are also specified percentages of salaries and waged by state member categories that are to be directed toward the state’s unfunded pension liability. The DOF is to direct the Controller to transfer the specified amounts.

Section 3.61 provides for contributions to prefund other postemployment benefits. The Director of Finance may adjust amounts in any appropriation item, or in any category, as a result of changes from amounts budgeted for the employers’ contributions for prefunding other postemployment benefits for the 2025–26 fiscal year to achieve the percentages specified in this subdivision.

Section 4.05 states that each item of appropriation from specified accounts are to be adjusted, as appropriate, to reflect the net savings achieved through operational efficiencies, elimination of excess positions, and other cost-reduction measures.

Section 4.11 requires the Department of Finance to report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and Legislative Analyst by January 10 of each year the past year actual numbers for each of the following: (1) percentage of vacant positions for each department, by month; (2) total authorized positions for each department; and (3) average percentage of vacant positions throughout the year for each department. This report is posted on the Department of Finance’s internet website and easily accessible by the public from the department’s eBudget internet website.

Section 4.12 states that each item of appropriation from specified accounts are to be adjusted, as appropriate, to achieve savings associated with vacant.

Section 4.13 authorizes the Department of Finance to adjust General Fund expenditures resulting from the final redirection calculation and appeals.

Section 4.20 provides that the employer’s contributions to the Public Employees’ Contingency Reserve Fund is 0.08 percent of the gross health insurance premiums paid by the employer and employee for administrative expenses.

Section 4.30 allows the Director of Finance to adjust amounts in appropriation items, including funds transferred to the Expense Account in the Public Buildings Construction Fund, for rental payments on lease-purchase and lease-revenue bonds.

Section 4.72 allows, upon presentation of project cost information by the Department of General Services, the Department of Finance to augment any non-General Fund item of appropriation of any department by an amount sufficient to reimburse the Department of General Services for activities related to engineering assessments and electric vehicle charging infrastructure at state facilities.

Section 4.75 authorizes the Director of Finance to adjust any item of appropriation for departmental support for the purpose of reimbursing the Department of General Services for centralized costs billed through the statewide surcharge.

Section 4.80 provides that, in the event bonds authorized for issuance by the State Public Works Board are not sold and interim financing costs have been incurred, departments that have incurred those costs must commit a sufficient portion of their support appropriations to repay the interim financing costs.

Section 4.90 allows the Department of Finance to transfer any funds previously transferred to the Architecture Revolving Fund back to the original fund source.

Section 4.95 allows the Department of Finance to transfer any funds previously transferred from the General Fund to the Inmate Construction Revolving Account back to the General Fund.

Section 5.25 requires payment of the attorney’s fees specified arising from actions in state courts against the state, its officers, and officers and employees of state agencies, departments, boards, bureaus, or commissions are to be paid from items of appropriation that support the state operations of the affected agency, department, board, bureau, or commission.

Section 6.00 allows the Department of Finance. pursuant to a request by a department to which an appropriation is made by this act, to authorize the use of up to $3,000,000 appropriated for support purposes for one or more of the acquisition, preliminary plans, working drawings, construction, performance criteria, or design-build phases of any project for the improvement of a state facility.

Section 8.00 provides that any amounts received from the federal government for the purposes of funding antiterrorism costs in the state that exceed the current appropriation of federal funds for that purpose, are hereby appropriated.

Section 8.50 provides legislative intent in making appropriations to state agencies that are eligible for federal programs. Any amounts received from the federal government are hereby appropriated from federal funds for expenditure or for transfer to, and disbursement from, the State Treasury fund established for the purpose of receiving the federal assistance subject to any provisions of this act that apply to the expenditure of these funds.

Section 8.51 requires each state agency, by certification to the Controller, to identify the account within the Federal Trust Fund when charges are made against any appropriation made herein from the Federal Trust Fund.

Section 8.52 authorizes the Director of Finance to reduce items of appropriation upon receipt or expenditure of federal trust funds in lieu of the amount appropriated for the same purpose and may make allocations for the purpose of offsetting expenditures.

Section 8.53 expresses legislative intent that reductions to federal funds appropriated in the Budget Bill enacted for each fiscal year, resulting from federal audits, be communicated to the Legislature in a timely manner. 

Section 8.54 expresses legislative intent that the State of California collect federally allowable statewide indirect costs, except where prohibited by federal statutes.

Section 8.75 expresses legislative intent in enacting this section to provide flexibility and streamline the administrative approval process for providing funds, including funds from the General Fund, to meet state matching requirements and take full advantage of funding opportunities made available under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and set a deadline of September 30, 2027, for expenditure of the funds.

Section 9.30 requires the Controller, in the event that federal courts issue writs of execution for the levy of state funds and such writs are executed, to notify the Department of Finance.

Section 9.50 provides that, for minor capital outlay projects, the services of the Department of General Services are not required and a state agency or department is authorized to carry out its own project, the amount of the unencumbered balance of the project shall be determined in accordance with this section.

Section 11.00 requires the Department of Finance to report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee when a reportable information technology project’s overall costs increase by $5,000,000 or 20 percent of the budgeted cost of the project, whichever is less. Each report has to include specified information.

Section 11.10 provides that, before a department may enter into or amend a statewide software license agreement not previously approved by the Legislature that obligates state funds in the current year or future years, the Director of Finance is required to notify the Legislature whether or not the obligation will result in a net expenditure or savings. Each notification required by this section is required to contain specified information.

Section 11.11 specifies that, to protect the privacy of state employees and ensure the security of the payment of public funds, all departments, boards, offices, and other agencies and entities of the state must distribute pay warrants and direct deposit advices to employees in a manner that ensures that personal and confidential information contained on the warrants and direct deposit advices is protected from unauthorized access.

Section 11.25 expresses legislative intent that the human resources, fiscal, environmental, privacy, and policy effects of generative artificial intelligence projects of state departments be discussed publicly. No state fiscal or personnel resources are to be expended for implementing or maintaining generative artificial intelligence projects in state departments, agencies, or other entities under the control of the Governor unless the proposals have been approved in the Budget Act or another statute.

Section 11.96 expresses legislative intent to provide flexibility for administrative adjustments, to fully spend the $27,017,016,860 in federal funds allocated from the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund as authorized by the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Section 11.97 expresses legislative intent that federal fund appropriations for capital outlay projects that may be excluded from the state appropriations limit, as provided in Article XIII B of the California Constitution, be funded with General Fund resources to the maximum extent possible in the 2025–26 fiscal year.

Section 12.00 establishes a state “appropriations limit” of $166,892,000,000 for the 2025–26 fiscal year.

Section 12.30 appropriates from the General Fund for transfer to the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties by the Controller, upon order of the Director of Finance, an amount necessary to bring the balance of this special fund up to the amount stated in the 2025–26 Final Change Book for the 2025–26 fiscal year ending balance.

Section 12.32 expresses legislative intent that appropriations that are subject to Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution be designated with the wording “Proposition 98.” 

Section 12.35 prohibits the Student Aid Commission from implementing any change in policy or practice that would have a fiscal effect exceeding $5,000,000 in any year to the costs of the programs funded, unless the change is first approved by the Director of Finance and notice is provided by the Director of Finance to the chairpersons of the fiscal committees of each house of the Legislature not less than 30 days prior to the effective date of the approval.

Section 12.45 requires the Department of Finance, for all agencies and departments paid through the Uniform State Payroll System (including the California State University), to adjust as necessary any items to recognize the change in the accounting method for the payment of state employee salaries, and all benefits.

Section 13.00 specifies that expenditures under Items 0160-001-0001 and 0160-001-9740 of Section 2.00 or any appropriation in augmentation of those items shall be exempt from the APA and public contracting laws.

Section 13.30 requires the Director of Finance to make available from the General Fund loans to eligible local entities that, in the aggregate, total no more than $1,000,000,000 for eligible local entities in Los Angeles County and no more than $750,000,000 for eligible local entities that are not in Los Angeles County.

Section 13.40 authorizes the Director of Finance to collectively transfer $1,500,000,000 from various special funds to the General Fund as budgetary loans during the 2025–26 fiscal year.

Section 14.00 states that, if the Director of Consumer Affairs determines in writing that there is insufficient cash in a special fund under the authority of a board, commission, or bureau of the Department of Consumer Affairs to make one or more payments currently due and payable, the director may order the transfer of moneys to that special fund, in the amount necessary to make the payment or payments, as a loan from a special fund under the authority of another board, commission, or bureau of the department. That loan shall be subject to specified conditions.

Section 15.14 requires any appropriation from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to be be subject to the restrictions specified in this section.

Section 15.25 allows the Director of Finance to adjust amounts in any item of appropriation in Section 2.00 resulting from changes in rates for technology services in the 2024 or 2025 calendar year.

Section 15.45 requires the Department of Finance to report the adjustment in writing to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.

Section 15.45 requires the Controller to offset General Fund payments to the Trial Court Trust Fund in Section 2.00 with any funds received from county offices of education for reimbursement of trial court costs pursuant to Section 2578 of the Education Code.

Section 19.80 appropriates $140,000,00 from the General Fund for climate resilience, natural resources, and environmental protection programs.

Section 20.00 expresses the intent of the Legislature to provide flexibility for the administrative approval of reappropriations and reversions within individual items of appropriation in those instances where the actions are necessary for the efficient and cost-effective implementation of the programs, projects, and functions funded by this act or any prior appropriation.

Section 24.00 provides that the donations and oil and mineral revenues from federal lands that are deposited in the State School Fund are to be divided between Sections A and B of the State School Fund, with 85 percent of these revenues to be credited to Section A of the fund exclusively for regular apportionments for school districts serving pupils in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and 15 percent to Section B of the fund exclusively for community college district regular apportionments.

Section 24.03 specifies that funds appropriated by Section 2.00, 8.50, 28.00, 28.50, or any other provision of this act may not be expended for the support of any program, network, or material, with the exception of instruction to pupils who are identified as deaf or hearing impaired that promotes or uses reading instruction methodologies that emphasize contextual clues in lieu of fluent decoding.

Section 24.30 requires the Controller, upon the order of the Director of Finance, to transfer sale and lease revenues received in an amount determined by the Department of Finance, from the State School Building Aid Fund to the General Fund.

Section 24.60 requires each state entity receiving lottery funds to annually report to the Governor and the Legislature on or before May 15 the amount of lottery funds that the entity received and the purposes for which those funds were expended in the prior fiscal year.

Section 24.70 specifies that, from the funds appropriated to the State Department of Education for local assistance, the department must ensure that the expenditure of funds allocated to a local educational agency (LEA), through a contract between the department and the LEA or through a grant from the department to the LEA, are to be subject to the LEA’s fiscal accountability policies and procedures.

Section 25.40 allows the Department of Finance to adjust amounts in any appropriation item, or in any category thereof, to remove amounts budgeted from any state departments, that are used to reimburse the Department of General Services for Contracted Fiscal Services, budgeting and accounting services.

Section 25.50 provides that an amount not to exceed $885,000 is appropriated from various funds to the Controller for reimbursement of costs for the ongoing maintenance and support of the Apportionment Payment System.

Section 26.00 expresses the legislative intent to provide flexibility for the administrative approval of intraschedule transfers within individual items of appropriation in those instances where the transfers are necessary for the efficient and cost-effective implementation of the programs, projects, and functions funded by this act.

Section 28.00 expresses the legislative intent to provide flexibility for administrative approval of augmentations for the expenditure of unanticipated federal funds or other nonstate funds in cases that meet the criteria set forth in this section.

Section 28.50 allows an officer, department, division, bureau, or other agency of the state to expend for the 2025–26 fiscal year all moneys received as reimbursement from another officer, department, division, bureau, or other agency of the state that has not been taken into consideration by this act or any other statute, upon the prior written approval of the Director of Finance.

Section 29.00 requires the Department of Finance to calculate and publish a listing of total positions for each department and agency.

Section 30.00 amends Section 13340 of the Government Code.

Section 31.00 makes the appropriations made by this act are to be made in accordance with the allotments and other provisions of departmental budgets approved by the Department of Finance.

Section 32.00 makes “expressly forbidden” the officers of the various departments, boards, commissions, and institutions, for whose benefit and support appropriations are made in this act, to make any expenditures in excess of these appropriations.

Section 33.00 states that, if any item of appropriation in this act is vetoed, eliminated, or reduced by the Governor under Section 10 of Article IV of the California Constitution, while approving portions of this act, such veto, elimination, or reduction does not affect the other portions of this act, and these other portions of this act, so approved, have the same effect in law as if any vetoed or eliminated items of appropriation had not been present in this act, and as if any reduced item of appropriation had not been reduced.

Section 34.00 specifies that, if any portion of this act is held unconstitutional, that decision does not affect the validity of any other portion of this act.

Section 35.21 prohibits the Department of Finance from using the estimated net final payment accrual methodology for the accrual of revenues, except for tax revenues that are accrued pursuant to an initiative measure that is enacted on or after January 1, 2012.

Section 35.35 provides that, to ensure cash needs in appropriation are met, departments must make every reasonable effort to promptly collect reimbursements or amounts payable from other funds or departments, or collect the amounts in advance.

Section 35.50 defines the term “General Fund revenues.” The estimate of General Fund revenues for the 2025–26 fiscal year pursuant to this act, as passed by the Legislature, is $244,822,000,000. Numerous other estimates are contained in this section.

Section 38.00 states that this act is a Budget Bill within the meaning of subdivision (e) of Section 12 of Article IV of the California Constitution and takes effect immediately.

Section 39.00 contains a legislative finding and declaration that the following bills are other bills providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill within the meaning of subdivision (e) of Section 12 of Article IV of the California Constitution.

Section 90.00 allows the Director of Finance to augment the amount of the appropriation for any state department or agency from any available source of funding, including, but not limited to, the General Fund, for costs necessary during the 2025–26 fiscal year to continue recovery efforts related to damage caused to areas of the state affected by wildfire states of emergency that were declared by the Governor in January, 2025.

The next section contains an index by budget title. Section 99.00 provides an index to the appropriations and related provisions of this act, by organization in alphabetical order, with the code number of the affected organization. The organization code is the first four numbers of any item number in this act. For ease of reference, the appropriation items in this act are organized in numerical order, and all of the appropriation items for any one organization are adjacent to one another.

The next section contains an index for control sections. Section 99.50 specifies an index to the general sections of this act. These sections serve to define terms and identify restrictions concerning the appropriations contained in this act.