They're a couple of days late, but its nice to see California's Legislative Analyst basically agrees that the budget situation has changed dramatically.
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| "2013-2014 Budget: California's Fiscal Outlook" California Legislative Analyst's Office, November 14, 2012. available at http://tinyurl.com/bzzulnk |
The ability of the State to deal with the problem of prison overcrowding and Judge Henderson's order is addressed, and the LAO assumes that the State will be required to house 10,900 inmates in out–of–state contracted beds in order meet the court–ordered prison population limit, which is a part of the projected $1.9 billion deficit for 2013.
The language used displays a bit of either optimism or naïveté, though, because just complying with the 137.5% deadline is the starting point for dealing with the situation, not the end point.
The report also acknowledges the very substantial increases in Medi-Cal reimbursement that are expected through 2018.
However, I don't think anyone can disagree that the budget situation has changed dramatically for California since perhaps June (when the ACA was upheld), and even since last week.