Jerry Brown, top lawmakers announce budget deal

Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders announced Friday that they have reached an agreement on California’s budget.

The announcement comes one day after the joint budget committee finished vetting a series of high-profile issues and two days before the deadline for the Legislature to approve a new spending plan.

“The leaders of the Legislature have worked very hard to build a solid and sustainable budget that pays down debt, brings stability to the teachers’ pension system and builds at long last a reliable rainy day fund,” Brown said in a statement.

Many facets of the budget, which takes effect July 1, have already emerged. Brown and lawmakers agreed to expand preschool for poor children and use revenue from polluter fees to fund the bullet train and other projects such as affordable housing.

“This budget proves once again that negotiation and cooperation can achieve a great outcome,” Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said in a statement. “We’re expanding preschool for our youngest and career pathway programs for our older students.”

The Capitol has benefited from a flood of new revenue this year, giving the state’s leaders some flexibility while hammering out a new spending plan.

“For years California’s budgets were about getting out of a hole,” Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) said in a statement. “This budget is about building a foundation for the future.”

Follow @chrismegerian for more updates from Sacramento.