California Republican Senators Target Kids of Welfare Recipients and Public Transit for Biggest Proposed Budget Cuts

Marty Omoto, Director of the California Disabilities Community Action Network, noted that many children with special needs are in the CalWORKs program. Other groups are also opposing these new Republican budget proposals, including the Western Center on Law and Poverty, and the California Council for the Blind.

Scott Graves, a Senior Policy Analyst of The California Budget Project (CBP), told reporters this afternoon that while the cuts to CalWORKs may offer short term reductions to the budget, long term costs may simply be shifted to other programs, such as foster care and child welfare services.

Perata denounced the proposal, saying that it punishes children for their parents’ actions.

The Republicans also proposed an additional $100 million cut from public transit funds. Public transit funds were already subjected to a reduction of $1.3 billion demanded by Assembly Republicans before they would provide the votes to pass the Assembly. This money comes from what is known as the “spillover account”, a fund which grows when gasoline prices increase. The “spillover account” is used to offset some of the increase in fuel prices that public transit agencies, including bus services, have to pay.

Transit groups, and their allies, the California Public Interest Research Group, League of Conservation Voters, and Transportation and Land Use Coalition are strongly opposed to further reductions, casting further doubt that the Senate as a whole will vote for these cuts, which go further than ones previously proposed by Govenror Schwarzenegger.

Also proposed will be an elimination of all state funding for Proposition 36, the voter passed program to fund drug treatment programs rather than incarceration for simple possession of drugs, This would reduce the budget by $120 million. “To the extent counties believe this is a worthwhile effort,” the proposal says, “they can pay for it.” A lawsuit is pending in Alameda County over prior cuts to this program because it was passed as an initiative and is state law. A preliminary injunction was issued earlier this year by a Superior Court judge against cuts in funding and that case is expected to go to trial.

The complete list of proposed cuts can be viewed online at the Senate Republican Caucus site.

Normally cordial relations in the Senate are showing signs of fraying as the two parties are at loggerheads in budget negotiations. Before presenting the Democratic approved budget Friday, Perata told reporters that the budget was a bipartisan effort, saying that “the Democrats have come a long way with the Republicans.”

This morning, after hearing the Republican’s proposed cuts, Perata told reporters that “a handful of right-wing Republicans” are to blame for the lack of a budget. “We’re being held hostage to a very narrow ideology,” he said, “all I know is that I’m not going to be terrorized by ideologues and California shouldn’t be either.”

Republican Dave Cox (R- Fair Oaks) (pictured at right) responded, saying “I want to show you what a terrorist looks like.” At this point, he held up a photo of Osama Bin Ladin. “We are not terrorists,” he said, “We are Senate Republicans.”

The cuts proposed by Republican Senators are those that were not up for negotiation anymore, Perata said. “They couldn’t get it in the negotiating table; they’re getting it this way.” He described the Republicans’ efforts to revisit past proposals, saying, “There’s no order. Chaos. Anarchy.”

“We’re not late to the table, they just didn’t listen before.” Senator Runner responded. “Now they have to listen.”

The Democrats will most likely vote against the Republican’s proposed budget if it is presented tomorrow morning. Many of the Democratic Senators feel that the Assembly passed budget has cut too many funds already, and are unlikely to vote for the Republican’s more extreme cuts. Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero (D- Los Angeles), said of the Assembly’s passed budget, “As it is now, as we propose it, it’s not exactly a kind budget.”

“Two people in California are holding up the state budget.” she said, referring to the two Republican Senate votes needed to pass the Assembly’s budget.

Jean Ross, Executive Director of the CBP, told reporters that the proposed cuts are “proof positive that there are no new ideas in terms of balancing the budget.” The legislature has seen all of the proposed cuts before, in one form or another, and almost all of them have been rejected, Ross said.

Hayley Leventhal is a summer intern with the California Progress Report as part of the University of California Sacramento Center Public-Affairs Journalism Program. She is a senior at the University of California, Berkeley, where she is majoring in political science. Leventhal is a native of Santa Cruz, where she attended Cabrillo College before enrolling at UC-Berkeley. She was active in Cabrillo College Democrats and as a 2004 campaign volunteer for Moveon.org.