This story was reported for San Diego News Network on November 17, 2009.
While the SDSU community is protesting the budget cuts, a UC Berekely professor is lobbying to change a legislative process and Sacramento insiders are spilling the beans.
Possible ballot initiative: A UC Berkeley professor is lobbying for a change in the way Sacramento legislators vote.
At the moment, a two-thirds majority vote is required for any fiscal-related bill to pass both houses of the legislature, a mandate unique to California and two other states. But George Lakoff thinks a simple majority is best, according to the Central Valley Business Times.
According to the newspaper, Lakoff is attempting to collect enough signatures to allow the voters to decide in next year’s election.
“The proponent for the measure, George Lakoff, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, must collect signatures of 694,354 registered voters – the number equal to 8 percent of the total votes cast for governor in the 2006 gubernatorial election – in order to qualify it for the ballot. He has until April 12, 2010.”
The two-thirds majority, aka super majority, has been a controversial issue during each budget crunch. Opponents of the mandate say the minority party – in California it is the Republican Party – are given additional power by stalling on budget actions.
Applying to SDSU: Despite the budget cuts to the California State University system, including SDSU, students are still applying to universities.
According to SDSU, as of Nov. 13 it has had more than 19,000 applicants from first-time freshmen for the fall 2010 semester. Around 2,200 of those applicants are from high school students within the “university’s service area, which is south of State Route 56 and the Imperial County.”
“Over the past 11 years, an average of 37 percent of our first-time freshman has come from within the local service area,” said Sandra Cook, associate vice president of Academic Affairs for Enrollment Services. “It’s very important that we maintain at least that level of local students on our campus. But they can’t get in if they don’t apply, and apply on time.”
However, because of the budget cuts, SDSU will have 4,600 less spots for new students compared to the fall 2008 semester.
On Monday, SDSU students and faculty members held a rally to protest against the budget cuts. The California State University system saw a $600 million cut in funding with about $55 million hitting SDSU. Campus leaders say $35 million may become a permanent reduction and they’re protesting against it.
Next year’s deficit: Just a couple months away from the closing of last year’s fiscal mess, projections for the deficit next year are looming – and it’s estimated to top $25 billion.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, insiders are stating the deficit “would be billions higher than previous estimates.”
But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn’t think it will be that big.
“Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s best-case estimate earlier this week was half that sum, at $12.4 billion. Assembly Republican leader Sam Blakeslee of San Luis Obispo floated a number as high as $20 billion during water negotiations,” the newspaper said.
The News also reports that despite the exact number of the deficit, Schwarzenegger stays true to his motto: across-the-board cuts and no new taxes.
Hoa Quach is the political editor for the San Diego News Network.