[Editor’s Note: Mr. Rice is Culver City’s lobbyist in Sacramento, and his opening comments are directed at City Hall officials. Further down, he reports on state parks being shut down for budgetary reasons.]
I'm sure you have already been flooded with emails about the Assembly Republican Budget Proposal released yesterday. Attached is a copy of the document (see pdf at the end), and the letter the Assembly Republican Leader wrote to the Speaker when the measure was delivered/released.
I spent the rest of Thursday speaking with some Democratic members and staff with budget oversight responsibilities. I think it certainly helps to frame the upcoming budget deliberations after the governor releases his May Revision on Monday.
The Letter
Assembly Republican Leader Conway Outlines Republican Roadmap for No Tax Increase Budget
Proposal Fully Funds Education and Law Enforcement without Tax Hikes
Yesterday, Assembly Republican Leader Connie Conway of Tulare sent the following letter to Speaker John A. Pérez regarding the budget. The attached document accompanied the letter.
May 12, 2011
The Honorable John A. Pérez
Speaker of the California State Assembly
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dear Mr. Speaker:
Thank you very much for your recent letter seeking our ideas for solving the state's fiscal crisis. As Assembly Republicans have done throughout the process — and will continue to do going forward — we are happy to put forward our specific proposals to help California close our remaining $15.4 billion budget deficit.
The budget approach that we outline today represents the common-sense solutions that we believe can be embraced by Democrats and Republicans alike in enacting a reasonable no-tax increase, budget compromise.
Our budget approach does not ask Californians to pay a $55 billion tax increase to fuel unsustainable government programs and a 31 percent increase in state spending over 3 years. As a matter of principle, we believe that raising taxes on struggling families and employers is the worst thing we could do right now, for our economic and budget recovery and for our efforts to jumpstart the economy and bring back private-sector jobs.
The Assembly Republican proposals that we put forward today represent our roadmap to a no-tax-increase budget. These are specific and detailed proposals to balance the budget with no new taxes.
Budgets are a reflection of our priorities as a state. Facing a $15.4 billion deficit, we are under no illusion that crafting a balanced budget is an easy task by any stretch of the imagination. But the news that California has taken in $2.5 billion in unanticipated tax revenue in the past four months shows that we can balance the budget and protect the priorities of working families like education and public safety — without raising taxes on overburdened Californians.
Keep in mind that nearly all of the components of our Republican budget roadmap have been proposed by the non-partisan sources we all trust, such as the Legislative Analyst's Office or the Bureau of State Audits, and key budget stakeholders like the University of California, or even by Gov. Brown himself.
Specifically, the Assembly Republican roadmap to a no-tax-increase budget would:
Protect Education — Like every California parent, Assembly Republicans are concerned about the impact the budget will have on classroom dollars. Our roadmap dedicates the $2.5 billion in unanticipated tax revenue, which is “real money in the bank,” to fully fund the Prop. 98 constitutional minimum funding guarantee for schools. It also rejects the additional $4.1 billion in cuts to K-12 and $847 million in cuts to higher education as outlined in the LAO letter to Senator Leno. Assembly Republicans will fight any attempt to suspend Prop. 98.
Protect Law Enforcement, Reject Dangerous Realignment Scheme — Instead of increasing the Vehicle License Fee, the Assembly Republican roadmap would provide $500 million from the General Fund to support law enforcement programs that would have been funded through the VLF. This is the same mechanism through which these programs were funded as recently as two years ago. We also reject the dangerous public safety realignment plan in Assembly Bill 109, which would result in the early release of thousands of dangerous criminals into our communities. By providing zero funding, our plan would stop this dangerous realignment scheme.
Eliminate Waste and Abuse — Our roadmap embraces specific proposals outlined by the Bureau of State Audits and the University of California to end waste and abuse in areas like Medi-Cal eligibility and inmate health care. These are areas where actual waste and abuse have already been found and mechanisms to eradicate them have already been identified. These proposals would save nearly $1 billion.
Reduce the Cost of Program Delivery — With real programs on the budget chopping block, taxpayers are demanding that lawmakers spend tax dollars as efficiently and effectively as possible. By enacting reforms to introduce competition in the delivery of services, such as allowing agencies to contract out with private firms for non-essential services like food service and transportation, along with other reforms to cut operating costs, we can save $1.2 billion.
Adopt Remaining Solutions Proposed by Gov. Brown — There are up to $3.2 billion in cuts and other savings proposed by Gov. Brown that have not yet been enacted by the Legislature. Our budget roadmap includes many of these pending solutions, including a modified version of the governor's redevelopment plan.
State Must Do Its Fair Share — Local governments, school districts and the private sector have had to reduce their workforce. State government workers must also do their part. Our roadmap rejects your caucus's proposal to grow our state workforce by 1,000 new government workers, and instead makes $1.1 billion in additional savings in the state workforce. Taxpayers shouldn't have to pay higher taxes to shield government workers from contributing their fair share.
We trust that you will see the Assembly Republican roadmap to a no-tax- increase budget as a detailed and thoughtful proposal to help the state close its remaining $15.4 billion budget deficit, protect our core priorities like education and public safety and get California on the road to economic recovery.
On behalf of Assembly Republicans, I wish to extend my hand of bipartisan cooperation as we work to balance the budget without raising taxes. In addition, we look forward to working with you and your caucus and Gov. Brown on long-term reforms to end this constant cycle of budget deficits such as enacting a real spending cap and reining in the costs of gold-plated public pensions.
Respectfully,
Connie Conway,
Assembly Republican Leader
One Quarter of State’s Parks May be Closed
The governor's office has been sitting on a list of recommended park closures for the last several months. With Gov. Brown set to release his May Revision on Monday, his office finally has made public which parks he is seeking to close in advance of the upcoming budget debate. Here is the report:
State parks officials this morning announced the closure of 70 parks because of the state budget deficit, including the governor's mansion and the Stanford mansion in Sacramento.
Gov. Brown's January budget plan proposed reducing the state parks budget by $22 million. The Legislature in March approved $11 million in cuts to state parks and $10 million in cuts to off-highway vehicle parks in the next fiscal year, with $22 million in cuts to state parks in future years.
The California State Parks System was directed to identify which parks would close based on attendance rates and historical significance. The department operates more than 270 state park units covering more than 1.4 million acres.
“We regret closing any park,” Ruth Coleman, director of California State Parks, said. “But with the proposed budget reductions over the next two years, we can no longer afford to operate all parks within the system.”
The department said service reductions will begin over the summer and closures will start in September. All parks on the list are to be padlocked by July 1, 2012, under the current budget proposal. The cuts have not yet been signed by Gov. Brown, so a final list could grow or shrink, based on the actions the Legislature takes to close the budget deficit.
Parks officials said they tried to protect the most significant cultural and natural resources, while maintaining the parks that provided the most public access and state revenue. In addition, the department intends to seek partnership agreements with local governments and non-profits in attempt to keep some of the parks open. They said 92 percent of total park attendance will be retained and 94 percent of existing revenues even with the closures.
A full list of the closures from the parks department:
Anderson Marsh SHP
Annadel SP
Antelope Valley Indian Museum
Austin Creek SRA
Bale Grist Mill SHP
Benbow Lake SRA
Benicia Capitol SHP
Benicia SRA
Bidwell Mansion SHP
Bothe-Napa Valley SP
Brannan Island SRA
California Mining & Mineral Museum
Candlestick Point SRA
Castle Crags SP
Castle Rock SP
China Camp SP
Colusa-Sacramento River SRA
Del Norte Coast Redwoods SP
Fort Humboldt SHP
Fort Tejon SHP
Garrapata SP
George J. Hatfield SRA
Governor's Mansion SHP
Gray Whale Cove SB
Greenwood SB
Grizzly Creek Redwoods SP
Hendy Woods SP
Henry W. Coe SP
Jack London SHP
Jug Handle SNR
Leland Stanford Mansion SHP
Limekiln SP
Los Encinos SHP
Malakoff Diggins SHP
Manchester SP
McConnell SRA
McGrath SB
Mono Lake Tufa SNR
Morro Strand SB
Moss Landing SB
Olompali SHP
Palomar Mountain SP
Petaluma Adobe SHP
Picacho SRA
Pio Pico SHP
Plumas-Eureka SP
Point Cabrillo Light Station
Portola Redwoods SP
Providence Mountains SRA
Railtown 1897 SHP
Russian Gulch SP
Saddleback Butte SP
Salton Sea SRA
Samuel P. Taylor SP
San Pasqual Battlefield SHP
Santa Cruz Mission SHP
Santa Susana Pass SHP
Shasta SHP
South Yuba River SP
Standish-Hickey SRA
Sugarloaf Ridge SP
Tomales Bay SP
Tule Elk SNR
Turlock Lake SRA
Twin Lakes SB
Weaverville Joss House SHP
Westport-Union Landing SB
William B. Ide Adobe SHP
Woodson Bridge SRA
Zmudowski SB
Mr. Rice may be contacted at tony@riceenglander.com
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