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

“If, following the enactment of the budget bill…the Governor determines that, for that fiscal year, General Fund revenues will decline substantially below the estimate of General Fund revenues upon which the budget bill for that fiscal year, as enacted, was based, or General Fund expenditures will increase substantially above that estimate of General Fund revenues, or both, the Governor may issue a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency and shall thereupon cause the Legislature to assemble in special session for this purpose. The proclamation shall identify the nature of the fiscal emergency and shall be submitted by the Governor to the Legislature, accompanied by proposed legislation to address the fiscal emergency.” [emphasis added]

The legislature then has 45 days to pass a bill that deals with the fiscal emergency or they cannot consider any other legislation. That means passage by February 23, 2008—a very short time frame to do major surgery. The $3.3 billion target of cuts or revenue enhancements is made all the more difficult by the fact that all of it has to come out of the four remaining months of the fiscal year that ends in June—one third of the year. That means it will have a triple impact—and an immediate one--on the state and local governments.

Not being able to find anything in the press releases and information on the Governor’s site about the proposed legislation, I called around the Capitol to various press offices in the Governor’s office, both houses, and even the clerk of one of the houses. There was confusion; I was told where to find the proclamation, but for at least an hour no one knew where to find the proposed legislation that was supposed to accompany it under Prop 58.

I eventually found that the Governor’s office had sent to the legislature a couple of hours earlier a two inch stack of legislative proposals in bill format that had gone through the legislative counsel’s office—but that are not available on the internet or to the public. I was told that the legislature would gavel into special session on the fiscal emergency on Monday and that bills could be introduced at that point. Subsequently they would be in print and available through the internet or in hard copy for those who like to hold and read bills in their hands. I was also told that it was not clear that any legislator would introduce the bills proposed by the Governor (sound familiar—like the Governor’s health care plan that was never introduced by a single member?). If so, the details of this may not be easily obtained.

Later, I did receive a call from the Governor’s press office and was told that the Department of Finance had “Budget-balancing reduction summaries” that contained much of this information. A legislative staffer who had just started reviewing the legislative language had, a few minutes earlier, suggested that I look at this information from the Department of Finance.

I suggest that concerned citizens, members of the media, and all involved in the process not wait until bills are introduced—or not introduced—on Monday. Go to these “Budget-balancing reduction summaries”-over 937 pages, and look for the charts that have reductions for the 2007-08 budget year. Then look at the “reduction impacts” below those charts. The hairs will start standing out from the back of your neck at what is being proposed.

Here are just a few that I found:

Page 40: Office of Emergency Services—Disaster Assistance.
“The Disaster Assistance Program provides aid to local agencies for repair and restoration of public real property in disaster stricken areas and ensures that all public facilities will be restored in order to provide necessary services to the citizens of the affected areas.
“This program also administers the Natural Disaster Assistance Act and Federal Disaster Relief Act, which provides eligible local agencies with financial assistance to recover from disasters.
Program Reduction“The Disaster Assistance Program will take a reduction of General Fund reduction [sic] of $2.4 million in 2007-08… This reduction will also impact the federal trust funds the OES receives since the General Fund is used as match to the federal funds.
Reduction Impacts
“OES recovery workload related to the last 10 major disasters is on-going and would be severely impacted with these cuts. This program continues to assist disaster victims and local communities long after the focus has shifted away from the disaster. Processing and payment of disaster claims to local governments will be delayed for 1-2 fiscal years depending on cut amount.”

What this means is that not only are we losing federal funds in this cut, but disaster victims and local communities will have long delays in being assisted with the last 10 major disasters. This, after we have recently patted ourselves on the back for not having a “Katrina” situation in California. And all for a $2.4 million “savings.”

Page 70: California Conservation Corps (CCC)… Eliminate and Reduce elements of the CCC’s Training and Work Program
Reduction Impacts
“Reduce the Corps’ ability to offer quality career development training for people from 18 to 25 years of age. The Corps provided approximately 2.5 million hours of training to 1,232 corps members in 2006-07….
“Reduce the Corps’ ability to respond to emergencies, such as fires, earthquakes, and floods….”

An interesting choice in light of what the governor had to say in the State of the State address Tuesday and the origins of the CCC which is modeled after a program of Franklin Roosevelt:
“You want daring?
“FDR didn't ignore the problems of the Depression because times were tough. He addressed those problems in big, visionary ways because times were tough. He saw the problems and he acted on behalf of the people and the nation.
“For example, to give America jobs, he created the WPA, which built 650,000 miles of roads, 78,000 bridges and 125,000 buildings. All these things we are still enjoying today.”

Page 86: California Department of Fish and Game…Reduction in Biodiversity Conservation Program”
You can read about the impacts on the conservation, protection, and management of fish in the state and that “Implementation and monitoring of marine protected areas will be delayed or reduced” and that this will result in a reduction in the department’s ability to review and comment on environmental impact reports and other CEQA documents. Also the effects on the state’s support of water rights, water quality, and water management.

Page 101: Reduction to State Parks
“Under this proposal, up to 48 park units (approximately 17 percent of the 278 state park system) will either be closed, unopened or placed into caretaker status (i.e. no or significantly reduced public access)…
Reduction Impacts:
“Access to selected state parks would be restricted and/or prohibited, impacting an estimated 6.4 million of the 75 million total annual park visitors. The loss of public access and visitation may have an impact on some local economies….

Page 581: California Department of Social Services—Children’s Services
Read this to find out the impact of this on deaf children, adoptions, and other programs.

Page 586: California Department of Social Services…Children’s Services
Many cuts here, including this reduction impact: “A reduction to the SCR system may reduce the placement alternatives available to children with special needs—medically fragile, drug exposed infants, children with serious mental and/or physical health problems.”

Page 849: Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB)…Delay Claims Processing/Litigation
“The increase in unfair labor practice charges hs lead to delays in investigating and prosecuting cases, at the risk that some cases may never be successfully prosecuted. … The proposed reduction will further delay the investigation and prosecution of unfair labor practice challenges. …The reduction will limit the General Counsel’s ability to carry out his legal mandate.”

Page 858: Office the State Public Defender…Capital Appeal Legal Representation
This will “increase the backlog of un-represented [sic] inmates, and further delay adjudication of their appeals.” In other words, there will be further delays in death penalty appeals and further delays in executions at the same time that the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court is proposing expediting the process by allowing the Courts of Appeals to handle the mandatory appeal of death sentences.

Page 880: California Department of Food and Agriculture…Reduction of Weighing and Measuring Activities
This will “reduce oversight, training, and coordination of County weights and Measures officials and reduce testing of commercial weighing and measuring devices” that ensures “fair competition for industry and accurate value comparison for consumers…”

Page 905: Military Department…Military Support to Civil Authority
Reduces “operational and emergency response planning efforts….” This involves the California National Guard when called to duty by the Governor and “training and exercise programs for state and local first responders involving incidents of Weapons of Mass Destruction.”

Page 907 and 913: Military Retirement and Veteran Homes Program
The retirement reductions involve those who entered state active duty in 1961 or before and among other things will result in “a decrease of 75 veterans potentially served at Yountville in the SNF/Memory Care Units.”

These are just some of the cuts that caught my eye reading through these pages last night. There undoubtedly are many more. More details to follow and if you have suggestions or want to write an article about the immediate cuts, please contact me. I don't think we can afford to wait on this.