Californians Need to Be Aware of Immediate Budget Cuts Proposed—There Are Some Real Shockers Here

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

While there is a good deal of coverage of the budget and cuts proposed by the Governor for the next fiscal year to deal with the estimated $14.5 million deficit, the more immediate cuts to take effect March 1 out of the current budget to deal with a $3.3 billion shortfall needs to be looked at now—and carefully. In these immediate cuts are cuts in disaster assistance, programs for deaf children, children with severe mental and physical problems, adoptions, enforcement of labor laws and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), emergency preparation, and veterans retirement and programs for vets with memory problems. And these are just a few that I detail at the end of this article.

Next year’s budget will sort itself out in a process that will go on until June. It will be painful. It is vitally important to the lives of Californians and our future. It needs to be analyzed, debated, and its real life impacts need to be communicated to the voting public and all in the state early—so that the choices made reflect our values and priorities.

The Governor’s website contains a fair amount of information on next year’s budget. The Governor, his cabinet members, and spokespeople have focused the bulk of their comments on next year’s budget as well as the responses of elected officials and civic groups. But it is time consuming and difficult to see the cuts proposed for the current years—almost as if they are being obscured from public view.

Under Proposition 58, passed by the voters in 2004, here is what the Governor is to do if there are immediate problems (which there are) with current spending and revenues: