VENTURA, Calif. — Facing a nearly $38 billion deficit, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget calls for scaling back funding for a host of climate programs and initiatives — a 7% reduction compared to last year’s budget.

Funding to address sea level rise would be reduced along with money for watershed resilience, water recycling and dam safety. The proposal also calls for funding cuts to programs that tackle coastal erosion and ocean protection. 

Rocio Lozano-Knowlton of the Merito Foundation understands that belts need to be tightened, but disagrees with this strategy. 

“I just don’t think that’s the wisest thing to do,” she said. “Climate change, it’s not going to go away. It is going to become more and more intense.”

She says cutting this funding now just means the state will have to spend more to fix bigger problems later. 

Meanwhile, Judy Thomas is trying to repair what she suspects may a quarter million dollars worth of damage to her seaside resort. The ground floor of Inn on the Beach was severely damaged on December 28th when a rogue wave crashed over a wall and flooded the street. 

She says she doesn’t envy the governor’s job of trying to balance the budget. In fact, she empathizes with him.

“Everybody wants their thing to be number one priority,” she said. “I hope…I hope that coastal erosion is up there somewhere.”