California State Budget

We the undersigned faculty, students and staff of California universities and colleges write to express our grave concerns over the recent May Revise for the 2010-11 California State Budget. The Governors Revised Budget proposes cuts to many welfare and social services for low-income residents, including the elimination of CalWORKs and Child Care Assistance, and substantial cuts to public assistance to legal immigrants, In-Home Supportive Services and inmate health care. These cuts disproportionately target low-income residents who rely on these services to meet basic needs. In addition, the revised Budget reduces funding for K-12 and community college education and mandates cuts to state employees salaries, among other cuts. (See the California Budget Project summary at http://www.cbp.org/.)

The Governor fails to include new revenue sources that would ameliorate the devastating impact these cuts would have on some of our most vulnerable residents, such as the elderly, disabled, and children. Instead, he shifts the burden to those least able to pay by charging copayments for MediCal recipients, increasing student fees for public higher education, and requiring local governments to pay for essential services. Closing corporate tax loopholes or imposing a modest severance tax on oil and natural gas extraction would be more equitable steps to a balanced budget.

By not raising taxes, the Governors Budget pits the working- and middle-class against low-income Californians, which makes balancing the Budget a false choice between vital social services and the higher education system.

The Governors Budget proposal appears to benefit higher education by partially restoring funding to UC and CSU, but this half-measure comes at the cost of gutting social and welfare programs that serve families and communities. We view this as the wrong approach and urge the Legislature to pass a budget that maintains the public good for all Californians.