Newsom wants to spend 22% more on staff than Brown
In his proposed $213 billion state spending plan, Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to spend more on plenty of programs, from health care to early childhood education.
He also wants a big boost for his own office budget.
Newsom is planning to spend 22 percent more to staff the governor’s office than his predecessor, Gov. Jerry Brown, creating new positions and revamping old jobs to bring in more senior advisers on such high priority policy areas as wildfires..
Other new and updated positions have gone to political allies, such as an agricultural liaison recommended by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and a new job for failed Democratic congressional candidate Jessica Morse.
The increase, from $20 million to $24.5 million, will bring the governor’s office closer to a pre-recession size. In the last year of his term, Schwarzenegger had a nearly $22 million budget and 202 staff positions. By the end of his tenure, Brown had 108.
“We were finding savings everywhere we could,” said Dana Williamson, who served as one of Brown’s top aides. “We had, in modern times, a pretty small staff.”
If the Legislature approves, Newsom will bring the number of staff in his office to 132.
His office declined to provide a list of the additions, saying it is too difficult to compare the organizational structure with the previous administration.
Here’s what we know about what he’s changing: More senior advisers Newsom has appointed an array of senior advisers in specific areas, such as higher education and immigration, a change from Brown, whom Williamson said had a smaller number of senior advisers with broader portfolios.
Rhys Williams, who served as Newsom’s chief of staff when he was lieutenant governor, is now serving as his adviser on emergency preparedness and management. Williams helped craft Newsom’s March executive order to expedite 35 forest and brush-clearing operations in parts of the state susceptible to fires.
Newsom has three senior advisers for early childhood, implementation of early childhood development initiatives and cradle to career. They’ve helped Newsom craft the early childhood spending in his budget, such as its funding for home visits.
Newsom spokesman Nathan Click said an expanded cabinet staff will “make state government work better for the people it serves — from taking aggressive actions to combat the cost crisis families face to more quickly and effectively reacting in times of crisis and disaster.”
In January, Newsom’s office touted the appointment of pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris as the state’s first surgeon general. So far, she’s gone on a tour of the state to gather feedback on what policies would most help communities in California access health care. She’s also working with Newsom on his efforts to move the juvenile justice system from the corrections department to the Health and Human Services Agency to focus on rehabilitating incarcerated kids.