Posted on 04/02/2004 9:02:01 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Edited on 04/12/2004 6:07:56 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger looking to crawl out of the not-so-little political box he put himself in - the campaign promise that the state's budget gap can be closed without any new taxes? "That does not mean that later on someday you cannot go there," Schwarzenegger recently told The Sacramento Bee. In other recent interviews with other newspapers, the governor has similarly gone from a fast-and-firm no to a fudging maybe.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
| Rank | Location | Receipts | Donors/Avg | Freepers/Avg | Monthlies | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Georgia | 250.00 |
6 |
41.67 |
|
|
235.00 |
14 |
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Nevada has no State Income Tax, California's ranks as one of the highest in the nation.
Arizona has a very affordable workers' comp progran, California's ranks as one of the most abused in the nation.
Who is out of step with its neighboring states in all these areas and why?
All you have to do is look to the legislature and the stranglehold many unions (Prison guards, Teachers, State Employees, Trial Lawyers, etc) hold on this state's viability as a dynamic economic engine.
Recalling Davi$ was one tiny step, and quite frankly , it mattered little who took his place as long as he had an R next to his name on the ballot.
Arnold says he has a 3 year plan and is working thru the issues one at a time.
I wish him well, but he can not do it alone, or with a demRatically dominated legislature.
We are marching in place , marking time 'til November , imo.
But that does not mean WE can afford to be silent or negligent in getting the message out as to who has created this mess and what it will take to save this once great state of opportunity for all and not just special interests the last few years.
Raising taxes is the last thing we need done at this point. We already assumed massive debt to buy time, but even that is only forestalling the inevitable.
Budget panel considers easing cuts
04/02/2004
By CHARLES E. BEGGS / Associated Press
The Legislature's interim budget panel will meet next week to consider ways of lessening the impact of state budget cuts caused by voter rejection of a tax increase.
There's enough money from savings to prevent a cutoff of mental health and prescription drug coverage for most people in the Oregon Health Plan, the state Human Services Department says.
But tens of thousands of other low-income people still stand to lose their state health coverage under spending reductions triggered by the tax measure's failure on Feb. 3.
The Thursday-Friday meeting of the Legislative Emergency Board, which handles budget matters between legislative sessions, will be the first one since the nearly $800 million tax increase was defeated.
The 2003 Legislature decided that if the tax increase lost, there would be $544 million in automatic cuts on May 1 — with $285 million of that from state school support.
Budget analysts say agency savings and a slightly improved state revenue picture will eliminate the need for further trimming to balance the 2003-05 budget.
Local school districts are handling the reduced funding in their own ways and don't expect any help from the E-Board's emergency fund, which has $32 million to last until next year.
The next biggest cut, about $200 million, mostly affects the Health Plan.
Gary Weeks, Human Services Department director, said savings will head off earlier plans to end prescription drug benefits, mental health care and alcohol and drug addiction treatment for about 300,000 children, pregnant women and people with disabilities.
But the cuts will drop coverage for another 44,000 people — mainly the working poor — who qualify for the Health Plan because it is the state's expanded version of the basic Medicaid program.
Because of federal Medicaid rules, the cuts likely won't take effect before Aug. 1.
Weeks says most of the savings resulted from people dropping off the health plan and fewer than expected signing up. Enrollment has decreased sharply since the state began charging premiums last year.
A health care advocacy group is urging lawmakers to find a way to continue funding the expanded plan, possibly by changes in a separate program that subsidizes employer-provided health coverage.
Eliminating the expanded program "will force the devastating erosion if not elimination of infrastructure, particularly the community mental health" programs, Ellen Pinney, director of the Oregon Health Action Campaign, said in a letter Thursday to the E-Board.
State police are also hoping for help from emergency funds.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski is asking the board for $3.9 million to prevent a cut in funding to state police laboratories.
Police say the cut would cripple the forensic labs, which serve all police agencies in the state, by forcing layoffs of more than half the employees.
Another reduction shaves $17.8 million from state payments to counties to help fund community corrections programs, under which counties supervise 30,000 state felons on probation or parole.
Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, who is E-Board co-chairman, said Thursday that restoration of some of money for that program will be considered but that the amount is uncertain pending further talks with counties.
The Legislature's budget office is recommending allocating $4.4 million — the next quarterly state payment due to counties — and reviewing the issue again at the September board meeting.
Douglas County has notified the state it plans to use its legal option to turn the job back over to the state, Ginger Martin, head of the program for the state Corrections Department, said Thursday.
Linn and Clackamas counties have indicated they might do the same.
The Pocatello city council is almost as dumb as Kalifornia politicians. Tax, spend and drive business away. The idiots just voted to raise the electricity franchise tax from 1% to 3% so they have more gold in the pot. That might just be the breaking point for AMI Semiconductor. Goodbye to the last large employer.
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