[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By State Senator Sheila Kuehl

This essay will set out some background information on California’s budget this year beginning with the actions taken on the 2007-2008 budget earlier this year. The next essay will set out the budget proposed by the Governor in January, highlighting those issues he later changed his mind about. Following essays will detail the new budget proposals contained in the May Revision (usually called the May Revise) to the January budget, divided into sections by subject matter along with analyses of the winners, the losers, the false scares, the posturing, and some possible conclusions.

What budget are we talking about here?

Just as a reminder, the California budgets run from July 1 of any year to June 30 of the next year. Last August, 2007, the Governor and the Legislature finally agreed on the 2007-2008 budget, which was balanced through deep cuts in social services, borrowing from special funds and no new taxes or fees. By the time the Legislature returned from end-of-the-year time in our districts, the budget, as expected, since no long-term solutions had been adopted, was again out of balance. Revenues to the state had dropped precipitously as income dropped, capital gains dropped and sales tax revenues went down as families tightened their belts.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Dave Johnson
Speak Out California

Governor Schwarzenegger has declared a “fiscal emergency” and is asking the legislature to solve the problem entirely with budget cuts. He has asked for 10% across-the-board cuts which at first glance seems to sound fair, but really means avoiding decisions about what budget items are the most important. It means cutting schools 10%. And law enforcement. And medical care. (Of course, they can't cut the interest owed on Governor Schwarzenegger's past borrowing.)

And more than that -- much, much more than that -- it is a trick that leaves out the fact that the state is not collecting needed tax revenue because of loopholes that let big corporations and the wealthy off the hook while the rest of us make up the difference.

It’s time to draw a line in the sand and demand that our state government not cut the budget for our children's education any more.

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called another special session last week (it was officially gaveled in on Monday), the Legislature was forced to print another "Daily File," the daily listing of hearings and committees that occur in that session.
 
These Daily Files are now in a rainbow of colors -- traditional newsprint for the regular session plus green for the extraordinary session on water, pink for health care, and now magenta for the latest fiscal emergency special session.
 
According to E. Dotson Wilson, the Assembly Clerk, prior to the early 1990's, there wasn't an issue with the color of the paper. All bills and publications in an extraordinary session were printed on white paper, and the color of the ink was changed to correspond to the special session.

In the early 1990's it was argued that it is more economical to use black ink on different colored paper, which is the current system.

Given the Governor's penchant for special sessions, if he calls more, #4 will be brown/tan and #5 will be yellow.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

• Governor revisits health budget cuts previously rejected as too severe
• Cuts include major provider rate cuts; benefit cuts, including dental
• Health reform proceeds, offers argument against cuts, for revenues

By Anthony Wright
Executive Director of Health Access California

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger returned to his pre-post-partisan days Thursday, unveiling an austere 2008-09 budget that attempts to address a $14.5 billion deficit, and calling a fiscal emergency.

THE BUDGET IN BROAD STROKES

Next year’s $141 billion budget would close parks, cut education funding, and cancel advance payments of budget borrowing from previous years. The budget reduces most state departments and programs by 10 percent, across-the-board.

“Now, some might say that it sounds easy to just cut across the board by 10%, but let me tell you… I can see every single person hurt by those cuts, and I understand how difficult they will be for many, many people,’’ Schwarzenegger said.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Governor Scharzenegger declared a fiscal emergencytoday, requiring every state department to slash 10% of their budgetsin an effort to close California’s $14.5 billion deficit, reports theSan Francisco Chronicle. The Governor’s proposed budget will take $4.5billion away from public schools over the next year and a half, andresult in the early release of up to 35,000 prison inmates in the nexttwo years. In order to make the cuts to education, the legislaturewould have to vote to suspend Proposition 98, which mandates that 40%of the state budget must be spent on schools.

The California Progress Report is lamenting Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposal to cut funding for a state program which provides home careto hundreds of thousands of disabled and elderly people in California.The In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) receives bipartisan support, butthe Governor has routinely cut funding for the program in order tobalance the state budget.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

This is the Governor’s week in Sacramento—from the State of the State speech delivered yesterday to Thursday when the other shoe drops and the proposed state budget for 2008-2009 is unveiled along with, for the first time, a declaration of a fiscal emergency under Proposition 58 of 2004 and the convening of yet another special session of the legislature to deal with this year’s budget deficit.

In the space of these three days, we will be going from the abstractions and symbols of what is typically in a State of the State speech to what will hopefully be more concrete, palpable, and understandable elements of public policy. But we shall see.