Deep cuts and pleas to D.C.

California’s getting a firstblush look at its public finances, and the picture isn’t pleasing. Gov. Gavin Newsom is cutting back on schools and services, plugging holes with reserves and praying for a federal bailout. San Francisco, once as flush as the state, is hinting at much the same.

Newsom is outlining his budget plans a week after California got the crushing news that’s swung from a $22 billion surplus to a $54.3 billion hole. In San Francisco’s case, it’s looking at a $1.7 billion shortfall after steadily boosting spending during a boomtimes economy.

In Sacramento, Newsom is proposing fixes designed to handle the nearovernight damage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic. Not only is the state paying for extra health coverage and billions more in jobless benefits, but the economic hit has driven down the three main tax sources —personal income, corporate and sales levies — by 22%.

No one is happy as lawmakers and interest groups line up to complain about the fiscal wreckage. But Newsom is offering a balance of options that may help the state get by if all his bets go right.

He’s tapping a $16 billion rainyday fund and spreading it over three years, a sign that no one thinks the state’s economy will quickly recover. He’s dumping a handful of childhood and health programs he rolled out in January. Like past governors, he’s not above raiding special reserves, something he wryly noted he would never do. Also, he made no mention of tax increases, though he alluded to ending unspecified tax loopholes and speeding up revenue collections.

The largest gamble is the governor’s hope for federal help, which he called “a moral obligation.” The wish is embodied in a $3 trillion package pushed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco Democrat who will need Republican help to achieve her goal. That huge sum — or a lesser one — is anything but guaranteed.

With the rest of the plan, the governor will need to negotiate with a wary legislature, whose members have watched their roles diminish while Newsom grabbed the limelight during the outbreak. The scale of the budget rewrite work should give them a much larger role. One example: a proposal this week from state Senate leaders to give renters a decade to pay off overdue bills.

San Francisco is not as far along in solving its similar problems. One in eight city residents has applied for jobless aid, and the shrinking tax stream is leading to a near $2 billion hit in its twoyear budget cycle.

Mayor London Breed isn’t denying the consequences.

“We are in for a long, hard road,” she said in releasing the bleak numbers. She and the rest of City Hall need to move quickly to provide specifics and prepare the city for the worst. San Francisco, long a case study in surging wealth, can show how to deal with a sudden drop from its golden status.

For the state, the sharp downturn once again highlights the need for a less volatile tax structure. The time to make those reforms was when the state was swimming in revenue. Now the governor and legislators are stuck with the amplified effects of a downturn. It would have been even worse if not for Gov. Jerry Brown’s frugality during his final eight years. He should be getting “thank you” notes from Sacramento.