Cogdill Says Budget Is Short Term Fix
Sacramento, CA — Republican State Senator Dave Cogdill says he could not support the budget package in its entirety because he feels it is only a temporary fix and will have a negative effect on local communities.
“The reality is that we are certainly not out of the woods, and I think the deficit right now is probably anywhere between five to ten billion dollars even after passing this budget,” says Cogdill. “I expect we’ll be back doing this again within a relatively short period of time.”
Cogdill says he was against borrowing Proposition 1A property tax funds and gas tax revenues from local municipalities. He also had concerns about cutting over $1 billion from the Department of Corrections and law enforcement. The gas tax proposal was eventually removed from the budget by the Assembly.
Cogdill adds, “While this package builds upon a number of reforms that Republicans have achieved in incremental progress over the past year, I do believe much stronger reforms are needed so that future lawmakers don’t find themselves in the same position of cobbling together budget solutions on a quarterly basis.”
Governor Schwarzenegger says he will sign the budget package.
Written by bjhansen@mlode.com.
