SACRAMENTO — Workers were removing the
ornaments from the Christmas tree at the Capitol
here on Monday morning, and much the same
mood filled the legislative chambers as Gov. Jerry
Brown unveiled his Grinch-like budget.
It included $12.5 billion in spending cuts, with a 10
percent cut in take-home pay for some state
employees and deep reductions in social services.
He also suggested a five-year extension of a
bundle of taxes, a plan that requires voter
approval, setting the stage for a potentially
contentious special election in June.
The budget is meant to address an estimated
$25.4 billion deficit, just the latest shortfall for a
state that has experienced a drumbeat of bad
economic news in recent years. But Mr. Brown,
who took office last week, cast the blame even
further, saying the state ’s leaders had spent the
last decade balancing their books with “gimmicks
and tricks and unrealistic expectations that pushed
this state deeper and deeper into debt. ”
But that period, Mr. Brown repeatedly
emphasized, was over.
“What I propose will be painful,” he said. “It’s
going to take sacrifice from every sector of
California. ”
In terms of sheer dollars, the steepest cuts affect
the most vulnerable in the state, including a $1.7
billion cut to Medi-Cal, the state ’s health insurance
program for poor families and disabled people; a
$1.5 billion reduction in its welfare-to-work
program; and $750 million cut from the agency
that provides services to those with
developmental disabilities.
The state’s higher education system — including
the highly regarded University of California —
would lose $1.4 billion. The president of the
university, Mark G. Yudof, who has dealt with
protests at several campuses over tuition
increases, called it “a sad day for California,” but
he seemed to recognize the gravity of the state’s
bind.
“The university will stand up and do all it can to
help the state through what is a fiscal, structural
and political crisis, ” Mr. Yudof said. “There can be
no business as usual.”
That sentiment seems to be an early mantra for
Mr. Brown, a Democrat who became governor
for the second time. He also proposed on
Monday what he characterized as a “vast and
historic” reorganization, moving many duties
now handled by the state down to a local level.
(Some of the shift of power to the state occurred
during the first Brown administration, when the
voter-approved Proposition 13 cut local taxation
power.)
Under Mr. Brown’s plan, a raft of state functions
— like fire and emergency response, court
security, and housing for low-level criminals and
oversight of adult parolees, among others —
would become local or county responsibilities.
The proposal was met with guarded support by
county officials.
“Realignment can only succeed if there are stable
revenues to fund the new responsibilities being
handed to counties, ” said John Tavaglione, the
president of the California State Association of
Counties.
Budget analysts said Mr. Brown’s approach
seemed more realistic, with less reliance on
borrowing, than some budgets offered by his
immediate predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger,
a Republican.
On Monday, Republicans — in the minority in the
Legislature — seemed cool to putting any tax
proposal on the ballot.
“Assembly Republicans stand united as the last
line of defense for California taxpayers,” said
Connie Conway, the Assembly’s Republican
leader.
Mr. Brown said that he would vigorously
campaign for the taxes and that deeper cuts
awaited if voters rejected the tax extension.
“People should assume that’s what’s left is what
will be cut,” he said.
Even if the taxes pass, the effect of the budget
cuts will be harsh, said Jean M. Ross, the
executive director of the California Budget Project,
a nonpartisan group that evaluates the
repercussions of public policy on low- and
middle-class Californians.
The cuts, “especially in health and human
services, are very difficult at a time when the
economy remains extremely weak, ” Ms. Ross
said, adding that the effects could be
multiplicative, as poor families received less aid
but had to pay more for care.
The cost of health care was the focus of several
hundred protesters who gathered on the Capitol
steps after Mr. Brown ’s announcement,
demanding that the state adopt a single-payer
health system. Inside, a group of advocates in
wheelchairs also criticized a steep reduction in
financing for in-home care.
“Some people are going to lose their lives on
this,” said Greg Thompson, executive director of
the Personal Assistance Services Council of Los
Angeles County, which has some 185,000 people
receiving in-home care. Mr. Thompson uses a
wheelchair because of a spinal cord injury.
Mr. Brown acknowledged that many of the cuts
would be “very, very difficult,” especially for low-
income Californians. But he said it was time for
the state to “pay the piper.”
“This is the world we live in,” he said. “You can’t
manufacture money.”
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/us/11california.html
ornaments from the Christmas tree at the Capitol
here on Monday morning, and much the same
mood filled the legislative chambers as Gov. Jerry
Brown unveiled his Grinch-like budget.
It included $12.5 billion in spending cuts, with a 10
percent cut in take-home pay for some state
employees and deep reductions in social services.
He also suggested a five-year extension of a
bundle of taxes, a plan that requires voter
approval, setting the stage for a potentially
contentious special election in June.
The budget is meant to address an estimated
$25.4 billion deficit, just the latest shortfall for a
state that has experienced a drumbeat of bad
economic news in recent years. But Mr. Brown,
who took office last week, cast the blame even
further, saying the state ’s leaders had spent the
last decade balancing their books with “gimmicks
and tricks and unrealistic expectations that pushed
this state deeper and deeper into debt. ”
But that period, Mr. Brown repeatedly
emphasized, was over.
“What I propose will be painful,” he said. “It’s
going to take sacrifice from every sector of
California. ”
In terms of sheer dollars, the steepest cuts affect
the most vulnerable in the state, including a $1.7
billion cut to Medi-Cal, the state ’s health insurance
program for poor families and disabled people; a
$1.5 billion reduction in its welfare-to-work
program; and $750 million cut from the agency
that provides services to those with
developmental disabilities.
The state’s higher education system — including
the highly regarded University of California —
would lose $1.4 billion. The president of the
university, Mark G. Yudof, who has dealt with
protests at several campuses over tuition
increases, called it “a sad day for California,” but
he seemed to recognize the gravity of the state’s
bind.
“The university will stand up and do all it can to
help the state through what is a fiscal, structural
and political crisis, ” Mr. Yudof said. “There can be
no business as usual.”
That sentiment seems to be an early mantra for
Mr. Brown, a Democrat who became governor
for the second time. He also proposed on
Monday what he characterized as a “vast and
historic” reorganization, moving many duties
now handled by the state down to a local level.
(Some of the shift of power to the state occurred
during the first Brown administration, when the
voter-approved Proposition 13 cut local taxation
power.)
Under Mr. Brown’s plan, a raft of state functions
— like fire and emergency response, court
security, and housing for low-level criminals and
oversight of adult parolees, among others —
would become local or county responsibilities.
The proposal was met with guarded support by
county officials.
“Realignment can only succeed if there are stable
revenues to fund the new responsibilities being
handed to counties, ” said John Tavaglione, the
president of the California State Association of
Counties.
Budget analysts said Mr. Brown’s approach
seemed more realistic, with less reliance on
borrowing, than some budgets offered by his
immediate predecessor, Arnold Schwarzenegger,
a Republican.
On Monday, Republicans — in the minority in the
Legislature — seemed cool to putting any tax
proposal on the ballot.
“Assembly Republicans stand united as the last
line of defense for California taxpayers,” said
Connie Conway, the Assembly’s Republican
leader.
Mr. Brown said that he would vigorously
campaign for the taxes and that deeper cuts
awaited if voters rejected the tax extension.
“People should assume that’s what’s left is what
will be cut,” he said.
Even if the taxes pass, the effect of the budget
cuts will be harsh, said Jean M. Ross, the
executive director of the California Budget Project,
a nonpartisan group that evaluates the
repercussions of public policy on low- and
middle-class Californians.
The cuts, “especially in health and human
services, are very difficult at a time when the
economy remains extremely weak, ” Ms. Ross
said, adding that the effects could be
multiplicative, as poor families received less aid
but had to pay more for care.
The cost of health care was the focus of several
hundred protesters who gathered on the Capitol
steps after Mr. Brown ’s announcement,
demanding that the state adopt a single-payer
health system. Inside, a group of advocates in
wheelchairs also criticized a steep reduction in
financing for in-home care.
“Some people are going to lose their lives on
this,” said Greg Thompson, executive director of
the Personal Assistance Services Council of Los
Angeles County, which has some 185,000 people
receiving in-home care. Mr. Thompson uses a
wheelchair because of a spinal cord injury.
Mr. Brown acknowledged that many of the cuts
would be “very, very difficult,” especially for low-
income Californians. But he said it was time for
the state to “pay the piper.”
“This is the world we live in,” he said. “You can’t
manufacture money.”
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/us/11california.html
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