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<H1 id=story_headline><FONT size=3>LAO is a bi-partisan committee of economists
and analysts that crunches numbers for the California Legislature's Budget
Committee. </FONT></H1>
<H1><FONT size=3>The only difference with Wisconsin, is that
here it is a bi-partisan effort and rather than confront unions head-on,
they plan to slowly bleed us to death with the 'death by a thousand cuts'
method.</FONT></H1>
<H1><FONT size=3>They could just raise taxes on the FILTHY rich
and solve the problem immediately, but then that would be 'bad for the economy.'
</FONT></H1>
<DIV>
<H1><FONT size=3>List of specific recommended cuts below
article.</FONT></H1></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Calibri>------------------------------------------</FONT></DIV>
<H1>California's legislative analyst lists possible cuts without tax
extension</H1>
<H2 id=story_subheadline></H2>
<H3 id=story_creditline><A href="mailto:kyamamura@sacbee.com"><FONT
title="mailto:kyamamura@sacbee.com
CTRL + Click to follow link"
color=#024a82>kyamamura@sacbee.com</FONT></A> </H3>
<H4 class=date>Published Tuesday, Feb. 15,
2011</H4><BIG><BIG><BIG><BR></BIG></BIG></BIG><!-- CLOSE: #story_header -->
<DIV id=articlebody class="lingo_region entry-content">
<P>The Legislative Analyst's Office provides a sobering take on how to solve the
state's $26.6 billion deficit without new tax dollars in a memo released
Monday.</P>
<P>School districts would shorten the school year by a few more days, districts
would increase K-3 class sizes and college tuition would soar. The state would
soften its "three strikes" sentencing policy. And state workers would pay more
in health care costs and face another round of two furloughs a month.</P>
<P>The 11-page letter comes in response to a request by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San
Francisco, who asked the analyst's office to suggest how the Legislature might
solve the deficit without $13.5 billion in additional taxes. </P>
<P>"The LAO report is important information for people to consider, and the
Legislature to consider, about what our choices are over the next (few) weeks,"
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said. "And then, ultimately, what the
people's choices will be come June."</P>
<P>Few legislators in either party could stomach such deep cuts; Democrats are
having a hard enough time accepting the sweeping social service and health
reductions that Gov. Jerry Brown proposed in his January budget. They already
plan to reject some of Brown's ideas, such as cutting off aid for children in
the state's welfare-to-work program after 48 months, and replace the proposals
with alternative savings.</P>
<P>Steinberg said he doesn't think the analyst's cuts will reach the floor for a
vote.</P>
<P>"What we plan to do is address the first $12.5 billion (of Brown's
reductions)," he said. "We're going to keep to the governor's framework, we're
going to try to shape them a little bit to minimize the impacts on the most
vulnerable the best that we can, and then we're going to seek to put the
remaining question of the tax extensions before the people."</P>
<P>Besides reducing $15.6 billion in general fund spending through program cuts,
borrowing and fund shifts, Brown wants a five-year extension of higher tax rates
on income, vehicles and sales. In keeping with his campaign pledge, voters would
have to approve the taxes.</P>
<P>That would generate $11 billion through June 2012, and up to $11 billion
annually in subsequent years. The governor also wants lawmakers to pass nearly
$3 billion in other tax changes.</P>
<P>Brown could have proposed a cuts-heavy budget as a fallback plan in case
voters or lawmakers rejected his tax proposal. But the Democratic governor has
been deliberately vague about what other cuts he would pursue, noting in January
that "some people might say that I'm putting a gun to their head, so I'm not
going to do that."</P>
<P>Critics questioned the motivation behind seeking a concrete list of
alternatives should the taxes fail.</P>
<P>"The LAO, in putting this out here, is being used as a foil for the
Democrats' plan," said Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, vice chairman of the Senate
budget committee. "That becomes just a weapon to scare voters into supporting
what they see as necessary, and that's tax extensions."</P>
<P>Assembly Speaker John A. Pιrez did not support the Senate's request for
alternative cuts. "This list doesn't get us any closer," said Pιrez budget aide
Chris Woods, adding that the Assembly is focused on Brown's budget.</P>
<P>Democratic political strategist Steve Maviglio said he doesn't think the list
will hold much sway.</P>
<P>"My sense is that voters have heard it all before, that it's going to be the
end of the world unless we pass tax increases, and I think they're numb to that
argument," Maviglio said.</P>
<P>Steinberg emphasized that the list came from the nonpartisan analyst's
office, rather than from legislators.</P>
<P>"The facts speak for themselves," he said. "What's important is that the
information comes from the respected legislative analyst."</P>
<P>Compared with Brown's budget, the analyst's memo shows K-12 schools taking a
$4.6 billion reduction, higher education facing an added $1.7 billion cut and
criminal justice losing $2.6 billion.</P>
<P>Jason Sisney, the LAO's director of state finance, said his office does not
necessarily recommend the cuts on its list but offered them as options should
additional taxes fail to materialize.</P>
<P>"While we have recommended in recent years some variation of many of the
alternatives provided in this letter, we have had to go far beyond our normal
comfort level in order to meet the requested solutions target," Legislative
Analyst Mac Taylor wrote in the memo. "Some of the listed actions would have
serious impacts on individuals, programs and local governments." </P>
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<DIV style="DISPLAY: block" class="factbox_content factbox1"
jQuery1298137690974="165">
<P>Here's the $13.5 billion in additional cuts the nonpartisan Legislative
Analyst's Office proposed to solve the state budget deficit if tax extensions
proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown are not approved (savings in parentheses):</P>
<P>K-12 SCHOOLS ($4.6 BILLION TOTAL)</P>
<P> Eliminate K-3 class size reduction ($1.275 billion)</P>
<P> Require that kindergartners be 5 years old at enrollment in 2011-12 ($700
million)</P>
<P>COMMUNITY COLLEGES ($585 MILLION)</P>
<P> Impose a 90-unit cap on each student's taxpayer-subsidized credits ($250
million)</P>
<P> Increase community college fees from $26/unit to $66/unit ($170
million)</P>
<P> Eliminate state subsidy for intercollegiate athletics ($55 million)</P>
<P>UNIVERSITIES ($1.1 BILLION)</P>
<P> Increase tuition another 7 percent for UC and 10 percent for CSU ($270
million)</P>
<P> Reduce CSU enrollment by 5 percent ($124 million)</P>
<P> Reduce personnel costs by 10 percent at UC and 5 percent at CSU ($408
million)</P>
<P>HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES ($1.2 BILLION)</P>
<P> Reduce state portion of in-home worker salary to minimum wage ($300
million)</P>
<P> Eliminate food and cash aid for noncitizens who courts have determined can
receive benefits ($190 million)</P>
<P> Stricter income eligibility for welfare-to-work recipients ($180
million)</P>
<P>CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND JUDICIARY ($2.6 BILLION)</P>
<P> Require second and third "strikes" to be serious or violent in "three
strikes" sentencing ($50 million)</P>
<P> Eliminate funding for public safety grant programs ($506 million)</P>
<P> Implement automated speed enforcement cameras ($150 million)</P>
<P> Order two furlough days a month for court employees ($130 million)</P>
<P>GENERAL GOVERNMENT ($1.8 BILLION)</P>
<P> Reduce state employee pay an additional 9.24 percent, equal to two furlough
days a month ($700 million)</P>
<P> Reduce state contribution to employee health care by 30 percent ($330
million)</P>
<P> End state general fund support for Small Business Loan Guarantee Program
($24 million)</P>
<P> Eliminate Department of Fair Employment and Housing and state commission
($17.2 million)</P>
<P>TRANSPORTATION, RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ($1.7 BILLION)</P>
<P> Enact another accounting swap that eliminates sales tax on diesel and
raises weight fees, reducing funds for local transit and intercity rail ($400
million)</P>
<P> Allow oil drilling at Tranquillon Ridge, off northern Santa Barbara County
($100 million)</P>
<P> Reduce wildland firefighting costs by imposing a new fee on residential
property owners in areas protected by the state, clarifying that the state is
not fiscally responsible for loss of life and property and shrinking territory
for which state is responsible ($300 million)</P></DIV><BR><BR>Read more: <A
style="COLOR: #003399"
href="http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/15/3403228/californias-legislative-analyst.html#ixzz1EQcmVjOa">http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/15/3403228/californias-legislative-analyst.html#ixzz1EQcmVjOa</A></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>