I think you two are saying two different things. Population in California actually went up. But the growth rate was lower than previous years.

"Population Shrinks in California, Still Most Populous State" — NBC Los Angeles, May 2, 2020 [0]

> California had a population of 39.78 million as of January [2020], the state Department of Finance said, down from its previous report of 39.96 million residents in July [2019].

That's the most recent 6 month period we have reported numbers for, and occurred in the 2nd half of 2019. For the full year in 2019, population was still slightly up overall.

[0] https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/population-shrinks-in-cal....

Citation?

GP is incorrect. California's growth was a record low, but it was still growth.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/05/california-populati...

I cited it in a reply to my own comment, but here's the link: https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/population-shrinks-in-cal...