Commentary California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed into law the $262.6 billion budget for 2021-2022, which runs from July 1 to June 30, 2022. About $196.4 billion of the spending will be through the state’s general fund; $93.7 billion will be spent on K-12 and community college education under a minimum spending level stipulation in the voter-approved Proposition 98. For comparison, total spending under California’s 2018-2019 budget, the last budget unaffected by the COVID-19 crisis, was $197.2 billion. Total state spending was $184.2 billion in 2017-2018 and $163.5 billion in 2016-2017. Total spending in California is up $99.1 billion over the past five years—a 60 percent increase—during a time when the population of California has increased by less than one percent: from 39.2 million people in 2016 to 39.5 million people in 2021. Much of the spending in the 2021-2022 budget is one-time in nature and comes from federal stimulus …