There were news reports galore about Arnold Schwarzenegger signing the $143 billion dollar state budget (hey, four more of those and they can bail out Wall Street!), but not so many reports about the $515 million he cut out. Marty Omoto enlightens us.
A wide range of senior programs – including the Multipurpose Senior Services Program (MSSP), Alzhiemers Resource Centers, were especially hard hit with additional cuts by the Governor.
Also hit hard was the CalWORKS program – California’s “welfare to work” program that serves thousands of low income children and families – many of them with special needs and disabilities, was hardest hit by the line item veto, with an additional $70 million reduction on top of what the Legislature approved in the budget bill passed last week.
Two programs overseen by the Department of Social Services, Adult Protective Services and Deaf Access Program were also hit with additional reductions. The reduction to Adult Protective Services was especially significant – and a reduction that was fought earlier this year by advocates.
Alzheimer resource centers, nutrition programs for seniors, the Home Delivered Meals program, the Deaf Access Program, Medi-Cal, Healthy Families, the Alcohol and Drug Program, and the Department of Mental Health – these are just a few programs and departments that got their funding cut. The common thread is that they all involve struggling communities of need. Nice guy, that Arnold. He even cut the California Discount Prescription Drug Fund by $2 million – this was part of one of Schwarzenegger’s main accomplishments in 2006. Read Omoto’s post for the details. Oh, and those 10,000 state employees who were fired as a result of insufficient funds? Don’t bother coming back to work.
State Finance Director Micheal Genest this afternoon said that the state employees whose jobs were a casualty of California’s budget impasse won’t be rehired this budget year.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s executive order on July 31 terminated about 10,000 part-time and retired annuitant positions, curbed overtime and suspended some contracts.
“We expect the order to remain in effect the rest of the (fiscal) year,” Genest said to reporters shortly after Schwarzenegger signed the budget.
We talk about removing the 2/3 requirement and bringing some sanity to the budget process. And the people will have a chance to weigh in on parts of this budget in 2009. But these heartless cuts are never put up for vote, and it’s important to remember that it matters who’s sitting at the Governor’s desk in 2010.