Jerry Brown says state budget deficit will probably top $10 billion

Gov. Jerry Brown said Tuesday that the state budget deficit could increase by $1 billion or more above the $9.2 billion his administration estimated in January.

Brown said that because of court challenges, weaker-than-expected tax receipts and other factors, the state’s deficit would probably grow when he releases revised budget numbers next month.

"Whether it's $1 billion or a couple billion, we'll let you know in a couple weeks,” Brown said after speaking to the California Medical Assn. in Sacramento.

The doctors’ group has donated more than $250,000 to Brown’s initiative for the fall ballot, which would temporarily raise taxes on sales and incomes of more than $250,000. Brown said his initiative was constructed to have the greatest chance for voter approval, even though polls show Californians are divided on the measure.

The governor said the initiative reflected "my best thinking" and noted that he’s been a student of state politics ever since his father worked for a gubernatorial campaign in the 1940s.

“I thought I knew a lot when I ran for governor, I thought I knew a lot when I ran for president," he said. "I thought I knew a little more when I ran for mayor of Oakland, I thought I knew a little more when I ran for attorney general, and now, here as governor again.”