California Budget: Time for Real Solutions
Republicans Offer Budget With No New Ideas, No Compromise, & Sketchy BorrowingAfter waiting two and a half months past the due date, Republican legislators finally offered a budget that offers no real new revenue, borrowing that might not come through, and deeper cuts to education, healthcare, and other vital services. Read SEIU's response.
Senate Democrats Cave to Most of Governor's Demands But Get Nothing in ReturnSenate Democrats almost unanimously voted for a slightly modified version of the Governor's August budget proposal, but the measure failed to get the 2/3 vote it needed, because no Republicans signed on. The package includes budget constraints that will force ongoing cuts to
education, healthcare, and other services in the future, and giving the Governor the unilateral power to make mid-year cuts up to $3 billion. The proposal also includes $2 billion more in cuts to education,
healthcare, and other services, and a temporary sales tax increase. Read more.
Assembly Republicans Block Budget
On Sunday, August 17, the Assembly voted on a budget that both made deep cuts and raised substantial new revenue. All Democrats except for one voted for the budget. Not a single Republican Assemblymember did. Assembly Republicans, 49 days past the budget due date, have yet to produce their own budget or specify the cuts they would make.
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Republican Voters Want Their Legislators to Compromise
Republican lawmakers who are holding out and refusing to compromise are not listening to their own constituents' desire for a pragmatic approach to our budget crisis.
SEIU recently conducted a survey of Republican voters and found that 65 percent of California Republican Voters say GOP legislators should work with Democrats to achieve a practical compromise to produce a balanced budget - including raising taxes.
Instead, according to recent news reports, Republican legislators see the budget crisis as their opportunity to advance an agenda they wouldn’t otherwise be able to. In one sign of progress, however, even the Senate Republican leader told the San Diego Union Tribune that after so many years of deficits, cuts alone will not solve our budget problem.
In the meantime ,thousands of workers have lost their jobs, community health clinics are scrambling for loans to stay afloat, hospitals and nursing homes aren't getting paid, and many school districts are preparing to start the school year without budgets. The state was unable to pay $1.25 bilion of its bills in July; this month, that figure will grow to $3 billion unless a budget is signed.
According to State Controller John Chiang, "The only way to avoid the risk of running out of cash is to quickly enact a budget that addresses the State's chronic structural deficit."
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