SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to give money back to taxpayers is rooted in a 1979 spending law that requires the government to give money to the taxpayers once appropriations reach a certain limit. The threshold has only been exceeded once – in 1987. Monday, the Newsom administration estimated the state would be $16 billion past the limit that’s named after Paul Gann, a conservative political activist who campaigned for the law. Newsom likely would have proposed the spending regardless of the limit. But his administration says the proposal satisfies the law’s requirements.