The following information has been reprinted from the State PTA website and the August 14th Legislation Action Alert.
There has been a lot of negotiations, talk and rumors inside the state capitol in the past few days about the state budget. The Assembly may call for a vote soon (as early as Sunday) on the Legislative Conference Committee’s budget proposal. California State PTA supports this Conference Committee Budget because it takes a balanced approach and prevents deeper cuts to education and children’s programs.
PLEASE phone or email your state legislators and the Governor IMMEDIATELY and urge them to:
- Stand up for children!
- Support the conference committee budget because it takes a balanced approach and prevents deeper cuts to education and children’s services.
- Oppose any efforts that would undercut the Proposition 98 school funding guarantee in future years
To find your legislators’ email address, please go to Find Your Legislator.
Background:
Legislative leaders and the Governor have been meeting to try to work out a solution to the state’s $15.2 billion deficit. A legislative conference committee (made up of Assembly and Senate representatives) has released a budget proposal that takes a more balanced approach to solving the deficit than previous “cuts-only” proposals. The conference committee budget includes a significant amount of new revenues to help prevent against any deeper cuts to education and children’s services. As you know, in January and again in May, the Governor proposed massive cuts to education and children’s programs. The Conference Committee budget eliminates some of the deepest cuts. For example, it would restore $2.4 billion of the Governor’s proposed $4.3 billion in cuts. Given the current economic and political climate in the state, this conference committee budget represents the best proposal on the table so far. It generates new revenues to prevent even deeper cuts. It is a major step forward from the earlier proposals–thanks to the strong voice of PTA members throughout the state. California State PTA will watch closely to make sure that the revenue components of any budget deal are included in the “trailer bills” that follow. We also remain deeply committed to raising awareness and advocating for the state to fully fund the education and support services necessary to ensure the future health of our state.
Conference Committee Budget
- Takes a more balanced approach to solving the state’s $15.2 billion deficit. It closes tax loopholes and rolls back tax breaks for corporations and the wealthiest Californians and restores money to education, health care and public safety.
- Rejects deep cuts in education and health care and includes $9.7 billion in new revenue, which is $2.7 billion more in new revenue than what the Governor proposed.
On the expenditure side, the committee’s plan:
- Provides $2.3 billion more for K-12 education than proposed by the Governor.
- Restores $1.5 billion in cuts to health and human services. This includes restoring nearly $200 million in health care services to some of the state’s most vulnerable residents, the reimbursement rate for Medi-Cal providers and federal pass-through funds for the aged, blind and disabled.
- Reduces corrections spending by $300 million with a reform package that helps lower the prison population.
- Restores drastic cuts to home care services.
- Restores funds for at-risk kids.
- Restores $57 million in financial assistance for college students.
On the revenue side, the committee’s plan:
- Reinstates the tax brackets on the wealthiest Californians by reinstating the 10% and 11% tax brackets. Revenue generated: $5.6 billion.
- Closes a corporate tax loophole for large corporations. Revenue generated: $1.1 billion.
- Suspends a tax adjustment for upper-income Californians. Revenue generated: $815 million.
- Rolls back a tax loophole for upper-income Californians. Revenue generated: $215 million.
- Restores the franchise tax. Revenue generated: $470 million.
- Steps up tax enforcement. Revenue generated: $1.5 billion. This is one-time revenue.
For more information on the Conference Committee Budget compared to the Governor’s proposals. visit the California Budget Project website.
To receive this and other Legislation Information Alerts from the California State PTA, please send your name and e-mail address to Leginfo@capta.org.
