Governor Gavin Newsom proposed to cut funds in 67% for a pioneer agreement with Google to support California's drafting rooms, citing financial pressures that have promoted broader budget cuts.
California's news rooms hoped to receive $ 30 million from the State as part of an agreement negotiated last year in which Google and the State would contribute jointly with money for five years to support local writings through a news transformation fund. The State Finance Department confirmed on Wednesday that California will pay $ 10 million for fiscal year 2025-26.
“The only reason for the reduction is more limited/less resources that are projected in the January budget,” said the spokesman for the Finance Department, HD Palmer.
Newsom on Wednesday that the State faces an additional budget deficit of $ 12 billion next year. The reviewed plan of $ 321.9 billion will also include a reduction in medical care for undocumented low -income immigrants and a decrease in overtime for selected government employees.
The agreement was born from negotiations that began with a fund of financing law written by the Buffy Wicks Assembly (D-Oakland), which is known as the California journalism preservation law. It would have required Google to pay at a fund annually that would have distributed millions to the California media depending on the number of journalists they use. California News Publishers Assn., Of which Los Angeles Times is a member, he supported the broader effort.
It was designed to help newspapers that have seen their finances collapse in recent years, leaving less journalists to cover institutions and communities.
The proposal was modeled After a Canadian bill What makes Google pay around $ 74 million per year. Google fought against the bill, arguing that its approval would force the company to eliminate California news from its platform, thus restricting access to Californians.
On the other hand, the State and Google agreed in August to provide almost $ 250 million to the writing rooms for five years, from 2025, with funds scheduled for two projects.
The second initiative was a promise of $ 68 million for Google to finance artificial intelligence in the form of a national accelerator of AI. The financing element of the agreement caused strong reprints of Democratic legislators and journalists.
California had promised $ 30 million in 2025 and $ 10 million for each of the next four years. Google agreed an initial payment of $ 15 million in 2025 and $ 55 million in total in the journalism fund. Google also agreed to increase its own journalism programs with a separate subsidy of $ 50 million.
The president of the local reconstruction news, Steven Waldman, said that the promise of $ 30 million to support local news was “modest” but a “first significant step.”
“Cutting it by two thirds moves California in the wrong direction at a time when local journalism collapses throughout the state,” Waldman said. “We urge the Legislature to celebrate an open and transparent audience to assess the impact of this deficit and explore ways to ensure that financing coincides with the scale of the crisis.”
