Legislature acts on proposed budget cuts L.A. Times

Budget panel wants to keep parks open and keep healthcare for low-income children. GOP leaders scoff at proposed tax hikes and criticize Democratic leaders for addressing only part of the deficit.

By Shane Goldmacher

11:02 PM PDT, June 15, 2009

Reporting from Sacramento — A state budget panel Monday rejected some of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most extreme proposals to close the state’s deficit through cuts to government programs as the leaders of the Assembly and Senate announced their own plans for billions of dollars in additional taxes.

The joint legislative committee nixed Schwarzenegger’s plans to borrow $1.9 billion from local governments, close adult day-care centers and eliminate a health insurance program for low-income children. The panel voted to shave $70 million from the Healthy Families program that serves those children, but that cut, like most others the members agreed on, was significantly smaller than the governor’s.

Committee members also said no to cutting off state funds for roughly 220 parks, proposing to keep them open with a new annual $15-per-vehicle fee on California drivers.

At the same time, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) announced that she wants $1 billion in new taxes on the tobacco and oil industries. And Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said Democrats in his house will push next week to suspend $2 billion in corporate tax breaks that were passed in February but have not yet taken effect.

Both leaders said the revenue from such moves would soften the blow for the state’s neediest, who rely on services that will certainly be reduced as the Legislature looks for ways to plug a projected $24.3-billion shortfall.
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