Little-Acorn
Well-Known Member
The Calif state constitution requires them to pass a BALANCED budget every year. They couldn't do it this year (or last), so they passed one that said if certain ballot propositions passed on May 19, 2009, THEN the budget will balance! The Props are tax increases and spending cuts.
Prop 1A: Increases taxes $16 billion, and says Calif will put more money into a "rainy day fund" than in previous years, whenever it has good economic times. (P.S. With liberals in charge, California will never have good economic times.)
Prop 1B: Changes how the state constitution is intepreted regarding payments to K-12 schools and community colleges, hoping it will result in cutting payments to them up to $3 billion.
Prop 1C: Borrows $5 billion this year from future state lottery winnings, and borrows more in future years; and modifies the lottery to hopefully produce more winnings.
Prop 1D: Takes money from some childrens' services that a special ballot measure created taxes to pay for, and transfers them to other childrens' services that the state general fund is supposed to pay for. So the General Fund doesn't have to pay $600 million this year, and $260 million in each of the next three years. What it does to those special-ballot-measure childrens' services it took the money from, is not mentioned in the voter's guide.
Prop 1E: Same as Prop 1D, but for state Mental Health services instead. Robs Peter (non-Gen-Fund programs), pays Paul (Gen-Fund programs), so the state General Fund doesn't have to pay $460 million to Paul. Presto, a $460M "savings"!
Prop 1F: Prevents pay increases of elected officials if they run a deficit in the year's state budget. Does it decrease their pay? Ohhh, nooooo, can't do that!
Basically, these Props are tax increases and/or confiscation of existing funds that weren't in the General Fund, using the money to pay for General Fund items. Except the last one (1F), which I think someone wrote as a joke. Funds are being cut from schools, state-provided childrens' services, and state-provided Mental Health services.
A few numbers from Ahnold and the legislature's 2009-2010 budget:
Prior Year Balance . . . . . . . . . -$13,692 <----- Last year's deficit of 13 billion dollars.
Revenues and Transfers . . . . . . $86,300
Total Resources Available . . . . . $72,608 <----- That's 72 billion in income.
Total Expenditures . . . . . . . . . $111,089 <----- That's 111 billion in spending.
Fund Balance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . -38,481 <----- A deficit of 38 billion this year.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
California's next-year budget pays $52 billion for education, $30 billion for Health and Human Services, and $10 billion for Corrections and Rehabilitation. All others are low single-digits. See http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/BudgetSummary/BSS/BSS.html . So it's obvious why Ed and HHS were the ones getting cut by these Ballot Props.
But which parts of Ed and HHS? The explanations of the Props make it clear. The programs getting cut, aren't getting the axe because someone studied ALL programs and concluded that these were the least harmful to cut. Rather, they are getting cut because they were found in the wrong column on the ledger sheet: They were being paid for by special funds, not General-Fund money. So the money was taken from them and given to the General-Fund programs.
Why didn't they just cut the General-Fund programs themselves? Damned if I know. Apparently General-Fund programs are sacrosanct.
I'm voting NO on all of them, because that's no way to run a budget. (Except I'm voting YES on 1F, the joke).
Hmmm, $52 billion for education? That's around $1,700 for every man, woman, and child in the state... most of whom are not in school. And $30 billion for HHS? That's slightly less than $1,000 for every man, woman, and child... most of whom aren't sick.
I may start probing into the budget in more depth. Seems like an awful lot of money to spend, per person.
BTW, polls around here are predicting that all the Props will be defeated, except maybe 1F, the joke. Not sure what Ahnold and the Leggies will do then.
Prop 1A: Increases taxes $16 billion, and says Calif will put more money into a "rainy day fund" than in previous years, whenever it has good economic times. (P.S. With liberals in charge, California will never have good economic times.)
Prop 1B: Changes how the state constitution is intepreted regarding payments to K-12 schools and community colleges, hoping it will result in cutting payments to them up to $3 billion.
Prop 1C: Borrows $5 billion this year from future state lottery winnings, and borrows more in future years; and modifies the lottery to hopefully produce more winnings.
Prop 1D: Takes money from some childrens' services that a special ballot measure created taxes to pay for, and transfers them to other childrens' services that the state general fund is supposed to pay for. So the General Fund doesn't have to pay $600 million this year, and $260 million in each of the next three years. What it does to those special-ballot-measure childrens' services it took the money from, is not mentioned in the voter's guide.
Prop 1E: Same as Prop 1D, but for state Mental Health services instead. Robs Peter (non-Gen-Fund programs), pays Paul (Gen-Fund programs), so the state General Fund doesn't have to pay $460 million to Paul. Presto, a $460M "savings"!
Prop 1F: Prevents pay increases of elected officials if they run a deficit in the year's state budget. Does it decrease their pay? Ohhh, nooooo, can't do that!
Basically, these Props are tax increases and/or confiscation of existing funds that weren't in the General Fund, using the money to pay for General Fund items. Except the last one (1F), which I think someone wrote as a joke. Funds are being cut from schools, state-provided childrens' services, and state-provided Mental Health services.
A few numbers from Ahnold and the legislature's 2009-2010 budget:
Prior Year Balance . . . . . . . . . -$13,692 <----- Last year's deficit of 13 billion dollars.
Revenues and Transfers . . . . . . $86,300
Total Resources Available . . . . . $72,608 <----- That's 72 billion in income.
Total Expenditures . . . . . . . . . $111,089 <----- That's 111 billion in spending.
Fund Balance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . -38,481 <----- A deficit of 38 billion this year.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
California's next-year budget pays $52 billion for education, $30 billion for Health and Human Services, and $10 billion for Corrections and Rehabilitation. All others are low single-digits. See http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/BudgetSummary/BSS/BSS.html . So it's obvious why Ed and HHS were the ones getting cut by these Ballot Props.
But which parts of Ed and HHS? The explanations of the Props make it clear. The programs getting cut, aren't getting the axe because someone studied ALL programs and concluded that these were the least harmful to cut. Rather, they are getting cut because they were found in the wrong column on the ledger sheet: They were being paid for by special funds, not General-Fund money. So the money was taken from them and given to the General-Fund programs.
Why didn't they just cut the General-Fund programs themselves? Damned if I know. Apparently General-Fund programs are sacrosanct.
I'm voting NO on all of them, because that's no way to run a budget. (Except I'm voting YES on 1F, the joke).
Hmmm, $52 billion for education? That's around $1,700 for every man, woman, and child in the state... most of whom are not in school. And $30 billion for HHS? That's slightly less than $1,000 for every man, woman, and child... most of whom aren't sick.
I may start probing into the budget in more depth. Seems like an awful lot of money to spend, per person.
BTW, polls around here are predicting that all the Props will be defeated, except maybe 1F, the joke. Not sure what Ahnold and the Leggies will do then.
