Stimulus Checks With President Trump's Name Sent Out To Americans
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 29: A letter bearing the signature of U.S. President Donald Trump was sent to people who received a coronavirus economic stimulus payment as part of the Cares Act April 29, 2020 in Washington, DC. The letter had a return address for the Internal Revenue Service in Austin, Texas, but was printed on White House letterhead. The initial 88 million payments totaling nearly $158 billion were sent by the Treasury Department last week as most of the country remains under stay-at-home orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

With California's projected $45.7 billion budget surplus in January, another batch of stimulus checks may be released.

State Senator Brian Jones said that each resident may receive $1,125 in tax rebates or $4,500 for a family of four as a result of the legislation.

In a video released online, Jones explained the breakdown of the projected budget surplus last week.

As the Republican state lawmaker tossed the big quantity of rice around with his palm, Jones said that if each grain of rice equals $100,000, California's "$45 billion surplus" is "taxes over-collected by this much," Jones said, The Sun reported.

State Senator Jones Supports Rebates

More stimulus checks are anticipated because the surplus is likely to exceed California's constitutional limit as set by the voter-approved Proposition 4, more generally known as the Gann Limit.

Gann Limit essentially restricts the amount of tax revenue that the state can spend while allowing legislators to decide what to do with the leftover funds, including rebates to taxpayers.

Since Prop 4 was passed in 1979, the state has only reached the Gann Limit twice, the most recent being last year.

California established two state stimulus programs in 2021: the Golden State Stimulus I and Golden State Stimulus II. Each stimulus checks are worth up to $1,200 and $1,100, respectively.

In unveiling his massive $286 billion budget proposal for the fiscal year 2022 last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom said that his office estimated a surplus of roughly $2.6 billion over the constitutional limit.

Jones, for one, supports sending rebates. Jones said that even a $2,500, $1,500, or any amount that can convince the state, the governor, the Democrats in the Legislature to send back is a "benefit to every Californian and every California family."

Tax Rebates Not Included in Proposal but "Likely" to Change

Although tax rebates were not included in Governor Gavin Newsom's original proposal - that could change in the spring.

Newsom said that they expect in May a revised language and are "likely to have an additional rebate to the taxpayers."

If the Golden State Stimulus program is revived for 2022, it is still unclear how much money taxpayers will get. Californians eligible for the second expanded GSS program received $600, with an additional $500 if they had one or more qualifying dependents.

"Our office thinks it's a very good idea for the Legislature to develop a plan before that," says State Legislative Analyst Gabe Patek, who thinks lawmakers shouldn't wait too long in figuring out what to do with the budget surplus.

Patek explained that if Newsom and the California Legislature wait another three months to decide how to spend the extra dollars, they will only have a few weeks to negotiate before the June 15 budget deadline.

The fiscal year of the state begins on July 1.

According to Patek, the budget surplus could be considerably higher than the current estimate.

The State Legislative Analyst added that since the time of the governor's budget proposal, the revenues have exceeded the governor's estimate and that "they've exceeded last year's budget act," said Patek.

Patek noted that all signs point to higher revenue than the governor's estimates.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Jess Smith

WATCH: Californians could see another stimulus check due to state's budget surplus - from KGET News