Posted on 02/24/2006 8:50:43 AM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO - California lawmakers should scale back a planned increase in education funding, raise the gas tax and let college fees rise, state Legislative Analyst Liz Hill said Thursday in her annual critique of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget.
The nonpartisan analyst recommended cutting $2.3 billion from Schwarzenegger's proposed $125 billion spending plan for fiscal 2006-07, including slashing $1 billion from education.
Her recommendations, she said, would help reduce the state's long-term structural budget deficit and eliminate some of the "autopilot" spending measures that tie state officials' hands in designing budgets.
"If you think of California as a patient fighting a disease, and the disease is our imbalance between revenues and expenditures, the (governor's) budget plan is sending the message that because of increased revenues we don't have to continue to take our antibiotics," Hill said.
"We are actually of the view that it's a precarious path, and that we're not well yet. We need to continue taking our medicine."
Her recommendations include asking voters to repeal Proposition 49, the after-school measure that Schwarzenegger championed in 2002, and repeal Proposition 42, which dedicates gasoline sales tax revenue to transportation.
Schwarzenegger has proposed strengthening Proposition 42 so lawmakers cannot raid gasoline sales tax revenues in the future, as they did in the first year of his term.
But Hill said Proposition 42 should be replaced with an 8-cent-per-gallon hike in the gasoline excise tax, which now stands at 18 cents a gallon. That would provide funds for transportation projects in a way linked to usage of the roads, while freeing up sales tax revenue for other purposes.
Her recommendations may be a tough sell to the Legislature. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuez, D-Los Angeles, agrees with repealing Proposition 49, but opposes most of her other recommendations.
"I think in a perfect world where the voters follow the lead of the Legislature and the governor, ideally some of the things she's proposing would help get the state's budget in balance,"
Nuez said. "It's one thing to put a proposal on the table, it's another to govern."
He said he would like to see Proposition 42 strengthened, as the governor has proposed, but opposes cuts in education funding or increases in college fees. While not advocating an increase in the gas tax, he said it should be part of the debate.
Schwarzenegger has proposed increasing education funding by $4.3 billion, including $1.7 billion to restore Proposition 98 funds borrowed in the past - a plan that administration spokesman Vince Sollitto said is fiscally responsible.
"The governor believes that education is a critical priority for our state and that our children have first call on the treasury," Sollitto said.
Hill's proposal would scale back that increase by $1 billion through reduced funding for after-school programs and repaying less of the Proposition 98 loan.
Education leaders are also expected to oppose further reductions in school funding and, in fact, hope for more in the revised budget due out in May.
Other recommendations from Hill include:
Denying the governor's proposal to give him midyear spending cut authority.
Reducing about $50 million worth of proposals for emergency preparedness, because of the availability of federal funds and overlapping programs.
Expanding the use of "telemedicine" in state prisons, reducing the need to transport inmates to receive medical care.
Rejecting the $6.5 million proposed for Schwarzenegger's Hydrogen Highway Initiative.
"Would you like me to SuperSize that debtload while you wait for reform?"
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
We can't continue to fund it by continuing to borrow more money.
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Hey now.. everybody knows how deep Californians pockets are. When they run out of rich folks, look out. ;-)
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