I have been in Sacramento as a legislator less than four months. When I arrived, despite being a freshman in the Assembly, I asked to serve on the Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services because that is where the battle for the dollars necessary to protect safety net programs for the most vulnerable among us must be fought. As the saying goes, be careful what you ask for. Speaker John Perez appointed me chair of the committee.
The problem is that California is broke. In fact, we are staring at a $26 billion deficit, which the state is constitutionally and pragmatically obliged to eliminate.
Without new revenues, severe cuts to our colleges and universities, prisons, public safety, child care, foster care and critical health programs will become inevitable. Governor Brown is offering a budget compromise to the voters of California: He’s prevailed upon the Legislature to cut the deficit in half, to reduce expenditures by $12.5 billion. Once those cuts are agreed to, he will ask voters on the June ballot to extend tax revenues that the state currently receives, but which are soon due to expire, just long enough to eliminate the other half of the deficit. If the Republicans allow it and the voters agree, we will have put our house in financial order. If, however, voters choose not to approve the temporary tax extensions, Brown said he would balance the budget by cutting another $13 billion out of the public sector economy.
I took a hard look at this proposal and found no better budget alternative than the brutally frugal one Jerry Brown had put on the table. I studied every alternative proposed, and engaged in countless strategy sessions with fellow legislators and community advocates about saving services we agreed are already under-funded and over-stretched. But we could shut down all of California’s universities and prisons, and still not have enough money to satisfy this deficit’s appetite. I do not have the luxury of self-delusion with so much at stake, and voters did not elect me to tell them less than the truth: The only way I can see to avert catastrophe is to brace ourselves for major program reductions.
Sacrifices must be made, and triage is the order of the day. That includes programs highly praised and sorely needed in my own district, which cannot be spared. Although I know firsthand, for instance, how powerful a tool community redevelopment agencies are for leveraging tax dollars for maximum local benefit, I also know that they siphon nearly $2 billion annually from state coffers. Still, I continue to look for ways in which these and other programs can be saved.
The Legislature has listened both to the needs of Californians for services and to their need to lighten the burden of the state’s expenses during these hard economic times. We have fashioned a compromise that none will love – everybody takes a hit. Polls show that most voters respect this approach and express willingness to shoulder the burden of extended taxes in return for a smaller government footprint in their lives. Not only do I have confidence in California voters on this critical matter, but I believe we will all benefit from a fresh start. As prosperity returns, I believe we will again embrace a progressive future for our great state. It is time to take the first hard but hopeful step.
