The California Budget Crisis Hit Home Today

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Don Perata
President pro Tem
California State Senate

Today, the California budget crisis hit home.

I joined with my Democratic and Republican colleagues in the state Legislature to pass $1 billion in cost-cutting measures to ensure the state can pay its bills this spring.

We tried to minimize the impact of the cuts, but make no mistake about it, these cuts are tough to stomach.

The actions included reducing spending on our schools by $506 million and lowering the rates paid to doctors who serve Medi-Cal patients, a move that may encourage doctors to quit treating the poor.

And previously planned cost-of-living increases for the poor, the working poor and the disabled receiving assistance through SSI/SSP or CalWORKS were delayed by three months until October.

We all want a better future “a future in which residents have an opportunity to live without fear and with hope. Today’s budget belies that goal. Today’s budget is a statement that California is going in the wrong direction.

But it could be just the beginning, as the state confronts a large deficit for next year.

I won’t accept a second-class state and neither should you. It’s time to stand up and fight for the better schools, health care and public safety we need for a brighter future.

All along I have said there is no way for us to cut our way out of this fiscal problem. If we were to balance next year’s budget on cuts alone, we would devastate our public schools and universities and our safety net programs.

I will not accept that. I will not accept a second-class educational system, or having more youth in our prisons than in our universities. I will not accept leaving alone our seniors or leaving out our children.

California must find new sources of revenue to sustain itself. We can no longer scrape by year to year, cut to cut.

Join me in demanding the stable revenues we need to protect California’s future.