Associated Press Details New State Budget
Sacramento, CA — The Associated Press has detailed a number of spending cuts and other measures included in the state budget agreed upon Monday evening by the “Big Five.”
Spending cuts would include: $6 billion from K-12 schools and community colleges over a two-year span … nearly $3 billion from the U.C. and C.S.U. systems … $1.3 billion from Medi-Cal … continuation of three furlough days per month for state employees (savings of $1.3 billion) … $1.2 billion in unallocated cuts to Department of Corrections … $528 million from CalWORKS, the state’s welfare-to-work program … $124 million from Healthy Families, a program that provides health insurance for 930,000 low-income children … $226 million from the state’s in-home supportive services program for the frail and disabled … $8 million from state parks, allowing the majority of state parks, beaches and attractions to remain open. Some parks are likely to close based on popularity and use.
Other measures include: borrowing approximately $2 billion from local governments property tax revenues (Prop. 1A) … taking $1 billion in redevelopment funds from local governments … taking $1 billion in transportation funding from local governments … accelerates collection of 2010 personal income and corporate taxes to bring in revenue earlier than anticipated … sells off a portion of the State Compensation Insurance Fund valued at $1 billion … allows limited expansion of oil drilling off the Santa Barbara coast bringing in $100 million in the current fiscal year … eliminates the Integrated Waste Management Board and the Board of Geologists and Geophysicists … gives school districts the option of cutting the academic year by five days … defers state employee paychecks by one day for a paper savings of $1.2 billion … gives the Governor authority to pursue the sale of approximately 10 state-owned buildings as a potential revenue source (Orange County Fairgrounds, Public Utilities Commission Building in San Francisco and the Ronald Reagan State Office Building in Los Angeles) … rejects the Governor’s proposal for a surcharge on homeowner insurance policies to boost funding for emergency services.
The legislature is scheduled to vote on the budget tomorrow. A two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the Assembly is needed for passage.
