CA BUDGET BILL

By Bob Walsh

 

 

 

The legislature of the formerly great state of California did manage to more or less pass a more or less legitimate budget by the constitutional deadline of June 15.  The budget is $325 billion.  In CA the governor has a line-item veto and he can, if he chooses, veto specific spending items.  The new fiscal year starts on July 1.

There are still major bones of contention.  The Republicans don't like a lot of it.  However, since the Democrat-Socialists have a super-majority in both houses their power to mess with stuff unless it is bat-shit crazy is limited to shining a light and waving a flag and hoping enough people care.  Most of the real interesting back-and-forth happens within the Democrat borders, where they fight about who gets to flush more of the taxpayers money down the toilet than the other guy, thereby buying votes and maybe even loyalty.

The state has expanded Medi-Cal massively in recent years to include coverage for undocumented Democrats, known to some as illegal aliens.  The God-Emperor of California, Gavin Newsom, has proposed to limit new undocumented enrollees into the system.  The members of the legislature on the other hand want to LOWER the monthly premium for the illegals, continue to fund the dental program for them, and allow those who dropped out due to inability to pay to opt back in.  

The governor also wanted to eliminate state payments for home health care coverage for illegal aliens.  The legislature does not want to do that either.

The legislature is also fully funding the scheduled $767 million for pay raises for state civil service workers.  The governor wanted to stall those raises.

The legislature has also kindly funded $1.75 billion for rapid transit agencies in LA and the Bay Area who are having budget problems of their own.

The legislature also proposes pulling $7.1 billion out of the emergency fund to close the "revenue gap."  It isn't actually a revenue gap.  It is an overspending crisis.  But the legislature refuses to consider that.  The legislature also proposes moving money around from various special funds to cover the general fund money toilet.

The latest poll by the California Public Policy Institute shows that 55% of the people in CA, some of who are actually both citizens and taxpayers, now oppose raising taxes to pay for increased services.  56% oppose hitting up the emergency fund to balance the budget.  58% oppose free medical care for illegal aliens.

The budge also does not provide adequate funding for Proposition 36 programs, the recently passed voter initiative to start cracking down on major repeat crime by serial offenders, usually druggies, within CA.  Newsom HATES putting criminals in prison and jail and works hard to make sure that it can't be done even if the law says it must be done.

In two weeks we will find how it shakes out.