Dateline Sacramento — After inspecting Gov. Brown’s budget for the next fiscal year featuring$12.5 billion in cuts, state Sen. Curren D. Price (D-Culver City) said today that “we must be careful not to balance the budget on the backs of our state’s most vulnerable citizens — children, the poor, the disabled and the elderly.
“I recognize the unprecedented fiscal challenge facing California. And everyone knows the difficult choices we face in bringing the state budget into balance,
“Gov. Brown has proposed significant cuts to higher education. If they are enacted, access undoubtedly will be more limited for students entering our colleges and universities. For communities of color, this would be devastating. And it would further reduce college-going rates that are already the lowest in years.”
Taking a step back and considering the span of the harshest budget to come from the governor’s office in some time,
Sen. Price said he realizes why tough measures are necessary:
The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression ended about 70 years ago, unemployment in the double-digits, and a substantial decline in tax revenues.
Therefore, the governor is relying on voter approval for new revenue while also transferring some of the state’s responsibilities back to communities.
“The result,” said Mr. Price, “is that we are witnessing the dismantling of our state’s safety net and the erosion of programs that impact our local municipalities, our school districts, colleges and universities.
Serving his first full term in the Senate, Mr. Price enumerated the worst slashes in healthcare and cash assistance for the poor. The first Gov. Brown budget:
• Eliminates more than half of the state funding for CalWORKS by cutting $1.5 billion in state and federal funding. In reducing monthly grants by 13 percent, the number of CalWORKS families has been shaved from a projected 580,000 to 458,000.
• Cuts the In-Home Supportive Services program by $486 million by shrinking the hours of services and eliminating some services. This will affect 450,000 low-come and disabled Californians.
• Impacts the child-care programs for low-income working families by eliminating child-care assistance for 11 and 12 year-olds, except those served through the state Preschool Program.
• Reduces the maximum monthly SSI/SSP grant for individuals from $845 to $830, the minimum allowed by federal law.
• Reduces by $1.7 billion funding for the Medi-Cal program, capping benefits for prescription drugs at six per month and limiting doctor visits to 10 per year.
Ms. Alim may be contacted at fahizah.alim@sen.ca.gov
