Lots of rich folks can afford to move out of California, ...Who's NeXt ? Damn U Idiots in the legislature and gov mansion.
DUMP DAVI$ & the Den of Socialists
GO SIMON
Posted on 06/17/2002 5:07:05 AM PDT by randita
Budget panel has yet to say the T word
That's T as in 'taxes,' a term that's AWOL as the state's deadline passes.
By John Hill -- Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Sunday, June 16, 2002
In two fast-paced weeks, the Legislature's special budget-writing committee has taken scores of actions to cope with a $23.6 billion shortfall.
But it has so far sidestepped the fiscal equivalent of the 800-pound gorilla: raising taxes.
Gov. Gray Davis proposed $3.5 billion in taxes to help balance the books in the fiscal year that begins July 1, including a one-year increase in the vehicle license fee.
The Senate and the Assembly, in their first passes at the budget, restored some of the cuts Davis made to health and welfare programs. That left the six-member conference committee, which is charged with reconciling differences between the two houses, with a shortfall of about $4.5 billion to be covered with cuts, taxes or a combination.
The conference committee plowed through hundreds of pages of adjustments to the budget in the days leading up to Saturday -- the constitutional deadline for passing a budget, and a target lawmakers failed to meet.
The net result is a shortfall not much smaller than it was when the committee got the spending plan.
And now comes the day of reckoning.
"It sounds like it's going toward at least having the tax increases in the governor's budget, if not more," said Assemblyman John Campbell, R-Irvine, a member of the conference committee.
Campbell and Sen. Dick Ackerman, R-Fullerton, have proposed more than $4 billion in spending reductions. But the four Democrats on the committee have spurned more than 95 percent of them, Campbell said.
"It's very disturbing that people are unwilling to make some of the tough choices that need to be made," he said. "A lot of what I've witnessed is people wanting to keep all their little pet projects together."
Not so, said Assemblywoman Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach, another committee member.
"I think we're being thorough and
really evaluating all the dark corners," she said, "trying to make the cuts that are the least damaging to the most vulnerable Californians."
The committee made some cuts. But it also restored a number of previously proposed reductions.
The Legislature, for instance, wanted to go beyond what Davis proposed to trim from CalFed, the joint federal-state program to restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. But the additional $3.4 million cut would not leave enough staff to administer bond funds and would delay programs for more than a year, said Betty Yee, the department's chief deputy director.
So the committee restored the Legislature's cut.
It also went along with Davis by agreeing to build the "Delano II" maximum-security prison in Kern County. The Senate had proposed terminating the project and saving $957,000 in the coming fiscal year, not to mention millions more in years to come.
On the other hand, the committee bucked Davis by reinstating the funding for five privately run prisons he wanted to shut. And it went against Davis' proposal to stop reimbursing cities and special districts for the booking fees they pay to county jails -- a move that would have saved the state $38 million.
Davis proposed axing grants for juvenile crime prevention programs and giving all the money to the Citizens Options for Public Safety, which puts police officers on the street. But the committee rejected that idea, choosing instead to keep paying for both.
It also turned away an administration request to cut an additional $31 million from the 137 California hospitals that serve a disproportionate share of low-income patients. That proposal had sparked an outcry from advocates who said it would have forced some of the hospitals to close.
The committee even went after some programs near and dear to the Democratic governor: additional money for the state's Web portal, for instance, and the Office of Innovation in Government.
In other cases, the committee reinstated Davis cuts that had been rejected by the Legislature.
The Legislature had turned up its nose at a Davis proposal to require Medi-Cal recipients to fill out status reports four times a year, a move expected to reduce enrollment by 247,000 people and save the state general fund $155 million. But the committee reversed course and went along with it.
There have been compromises as well -- on cost-of-living increases for disabled people, the rates paid to Medi-Cal providers and the distribution of future reductions to the state Department of Transportation work force between contractors and regular staff.
After the dust has settled, the committee will have to face the question of taxes. It's compiling a list of possibilities, including Davis' proposals and more.
One possibility often cited is raising the income tax rates on the highest-income brackets, a step that was taken during the recession of the early 1990s. But Davis, who vowed early this year not to raise taxes at all, is said to be reluctant to raise any taxes higher than what was in place when he took office in 1999.
Committee chairman Sen. Steve Peace, D-El Cajon, suggested that the panel might defer on the question of taxes to the revenue committees of the two houses, which have jurisdiction.
But Oropeza, who believes Davis underfunded some "vital state services," said the conference committee should step up.
"I feel a duty not just to say what we'll spend," she said, "but how we're going to do it."
About the Writer ---------------------------
The Bee's John Hill can be reached at (916) 326-5543 or jhill@sacbee.com .
Check the keywords now!
calgov2002:
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Most conservatives on this board who are the bright conservatives aren't aware of that increase. Just find any credit card receipt from last year and compare your sales tax rate then versus a charge since 1/1/02.
A percentage of that goes to local governments!
When these darkside creatures complain to me or try to blame it on conservatives, I tell them that what is happening is due to the greed that Davis and the Rat legislature has. They are breaking the state by billions and that will cost everyone suckling at the tax teats! They just stare at you!
None old Age?
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