THAT WAS EASY:

Mr. Brown said he anticipates revenue of $98.2 billion in the current fiscal year ending June 30, up 13% from $87.1 billion in 2012. That would be followed by revenue of $97.2 billion in 2014.

California's financial improvement comes from an economic rebound driven in part by Silicon Valley and a set of tax increases that voters approved in November. The news follows years of deep deficits that, as recently as 2009, forced the state under former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to issue IOUs to cover the state's bills.

Mr. Brown warned that a shaky recovery of the international economy, the federal sequestration budget cuts and the expiration of a federal payroll-tax holiday are expected to weigh on California in the year ahead. While the 2013 forecast exceeds an earlier estimate in January, the 2014 forecast is lower.

"We're sailing into some rather uncertain times," he said.

Assembly Republican Leader Connie Conway said in a statement that Mr. Brown's plan "charts a realistic path forward in meeting the budget priorities of hard-working taxpayers" and that she hopes "Democrats will follow the governor's lead in making fiscal discipline a core budget principle."

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