Today is the last day of state fiscal year 2023 and the last day of the 2021–23 biennium. Tomorrow is the first day of the 2023–25 biennium, which comprises fiscal years 2024 and 2025.

The operating budget and other legislation enacted this year appropriated $69.804 billion from funds subject to the outlook (NGFO) for 2023–25, an increase of 8.9% from 2021–23 (as adopted in the 2022 supplemental). Even adjusted for inflation and population, that amount maintains the historically large increase in spending that was adopted last year.

The Legislature didn’t increase general taxes this year. However, tomorrow the long-term care payroll tax (0.58% of wages) will go into effect. The program was enacted in 2019, and the payroll tax was supposed to be effective Jan. 1, 2022. Instead, the Legislature acted last year to delay implementation by 18 months. Our overview of the program is here, and my analysis of a more recent actuarial study is here.