California Gov. Jerry Brown released the first proposal for a 2012-13 budget on Jan. 5.
Quick Overview: Governor’s Proposed 2012-2013 Budget (PDF)
We’re still a long way from what will be adopted in the summer.
The budget includes a deficit of nearly $10 billion, further proof that the cuts-only approach hasn’t worked. We can’t restore our economy by asking more and more of the middle class while corporations and the wealthy pocket a greater share of our economic growth.
Forcing scores of thousands of children into extreme poverty, cutting the home care lifeline for families struggling to care for a loved one with a serious disability, and pulling the rug out from working families who rely on child care are the wrong things to do, especially in an economy that is still on life support. Members of 521 and other SEIU locals around the state will fight to make sure the budget is balanced with better solutions.
We look forward to working with the Governor and the Legislature in the coming months to find new efficiencies, identify additional revenues, and make more judicious and less harmful cuts.
The budget assumes the governor’s tax reform plan passes, but still includes massive cuts, including $1.4 billion to CalWorks and child care programs and $842 million to MediCal.
Middle-class families have suffered enough in this recession. Year after year, the obstructionists have made sure we take the brunt so they can protect the pocketbooks of the wealthy. SEIU 521 members understand that a state that takes care of its sick and educates its children produces a more solid economy for everyone in the future. It’s time we invest in California again, and end this vicious cycle of cuts. —Gwyn Harshaw, SEIU 521 president
