As the constitutional deadline rapidly approached for adoption of California’s annual state budget, Assemblywoman Holly Mitchell (D-Culver City) remained aware that voters have clearly indicated they regard the state budget as a fundamental responsibility of their governor and legislature. Nonetheless, efforts to create the budget on a bipartisan basis, utilizing so-called bridge funding to allow additional revenue to be applied to offset the $9.6 billion deficit that remains, weren’t yielding a budget compromise despite the $14 billion in cuts to state programs already approved this year.
Thus, the Democrats had to take action in order to get the state back on a stable course and ensure that there was no disruption in funding for schools, public safety and vital government services for children and seniors.
“I implored my colleagues across the aisle: Compromise means giving as well as taking. Cuts that hurt must be matched by resources that salvage,” said Mitchell. But the Republicans withheld the votes needed to put tax extensions on June’s ballot, and now withholds votes to build a bridge to a fall election.
The Legislature had no choice but to pass the budget to protect the people and the future of the state, according to Mitchell. Budget Subcommittee 1 held 17 hearings, heard from more than 1,500 people and received several thousand letters, faxes and emails. “I want to thank all who testified or wrote over the last three months, pleading with us to hearken to their stories and needs. I – we – could not turn a deaf ear,” said Mitchell.
The state cannot take the cuts, already piled up on top of each other, and double the pain, decimating infrastructure as well as services, turning the awful into the catastrophic, she said.
Mitchell said that while the state deeply regrets the further cuts to schools and higher education, this budget maintains a balanced approach of budget cuts and revenue solutions. It moves us further toward eliminating the structural deficit and implementing critical reforms through a statewide vote. This is the only viable path to stability and recovery, she said.
Over the next months, as the implementation and review proposals to streamline government and reshape services are addressed and as we look to January 2012, Mitchell promises that Subcommittee 1 will facilitate innovative thinking, broad participation and prudent oversight.
“I am voting ‘yes’ because this budget is a step towards the future. This budget addresses the ongoing structural deficit and the values of Californians who demand that we preserve the safety net,” concluded Mitchell.