by Calculated Risk on 7/14/2015 03:23:00 PM

In November 2012, I was interviewed by Joe Weisenthal at Business Insider. One of my comments during our discussion on state and local governments was:

I wouldn’t be surprised if we see all of a sudden a report come out, “Hey, we’ve got a balanced budget in California.”

At the time that was way out of the consensus view. And a couple of months later California announced a balanced budget, see The California Budget Surplus

The situation has improved significantly since then. Here is the most recent update from California State Controller Betty Yee: CA Controller’s June Cash Report Shows Another Surge to End 2014-15 Fiscal Year

California ended the fiscal year with another unexpected revenue surge in June, with total General Fund receipts surpassing the Governor’s May estimates by $859.4 million, according to State Controller Betty T. Yee’s monthly report of California’s cash balance, receipts, and disbursements published today.

For the second year in a row, the General Fund ended with a positive cash balance.

June capped a 12-month boom in state revenues, driven largely by personal income tax. For the fiscal year ending June 30, total revenues for the General Fund (the source of most state spending) were $6.8 billion more than anticipated a year ago, when the 2014-15 budget was enacted. This was 6.4 percent higher than projected. Compared to the previous fiscal year, California revenues were $12.7 billion higher, a bump of 12.5 percent.

June’s revenues easily outstripped projections included in the Governor’s revised budget released only a month earlier. Personal income tax led the way, coming in $762.5 million higher than anticipated in the May Revision
emphasis added

Some states are still struggling, but California is doing much better.