A Responsible Budget in the Face of a
Worse Deficit
Worse Deficit
Fixes Our Broken Budget System, Fully Funds Education - Without Raising Taxes
While the budget deficit has worsened since January - with revenues that came in $6 billion lower than projected - and California’s economy is still sluggish, the Governor has produced a revised and improved budget that focuses on fixing our broken budget system once and for all. It is a responsible budget that includes a combination of necessary cuts and new revenues.
It is a budget that also fully funds education under Proposition 98, keeps state parks open, and keeps prisoners behind bars. And it does not raise taxes.
The Governor’s May Revise seeks to get more value out of an underperforming state asset - the California Lottery - and in so doing establish a much needed rainy day fund to benefit both current and future budgets. Raising more cash from the Lottery now will jump-start systemic budget reform, which California needs so that it is never again put in the feast-or-famine budget cycle that threatens funding to education, law enforcement, health and human services, and other programs.
Governor Schwarzenegger has produced an improved, responsible budget despite lower revenues and a worse deficit.
The budget deficit has grown since January. And the economy is still slow. Nevertheless, the Governor has produced a budget that:
- Fully funds education under Proposition 98, increasing funding to K-14 schools over the current year budget by about $200 million;
- Keeps state parks open;
- Does not let any felons out from behind bars early;
- Does not raise taxes.
It is a budget that includes difficult-but-necessary cuts, as well as new revenues and other solutions.
