This story was reported for the San Diego News Network on July 17, 2009.
Yet another Friday has arrived with a budget agreement not in placed quite yet, but legislators still have hours before the weekend rolls in. Because Big 5 leaders are working together until a balanced budget plan is in place, Sacramento has become a happenin’ place with constant news. Here’s a breakdown of what has occurred since Day 14 of the budget impasse:
Unhealthy Fridays: The Healthy Families program has stopped accepting applications as of Friday. The program currently provides health care to about a million children in the state and 76,000 in San Diego County.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger actually proposed to eliminate the program completely to save the state $366 million.
In addition, Schwarzenegger has proposed to reduce funding the Medi-Cal program by at least $1 billion. Other health-care cuts for low-income families could affect up to two million people, 1.5 million of which would be children.
The unrelenting treasurer: The state’s Treasurer Bill Lockyer issued a warning to the Big 5 (Schwarzenegger and party leaders) Thursday, stating their delays would severely hurt the Golden State’s infrastructure. Lockyer said among the sectors at risk were schools, highways and levees.
“With every passing day, the state’s credit rating moves closer and closer to the junk pile,” Lockyer said in a statement. “If the governor and Legislature dump us on that pile, they will end indefinitely the state’s financial ability to build schools, highways, levees – all the critical public works we need to rebuild California.
Some Democratic education: Education cuts and funding have been the core issue at Sacramento these past few days. The Democrats are concerned that should the state suspend Proposition 98, it would not be able to pay back the funding in the future.
Proposition 98, which guarantees a certain amount of funding to schools, could have a statutory change to ensure the schools would get their money.
The governor’s administration disagreed, saying the changes sought by Democrats would require voter approval because they would alter Proposition 98, a ballot initiative that guarantees a minimum level of education funding.
“When times get better, we want to guarantee that education and kids get paid back the money that they are owed,” said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento).
Republican legislators said they wanted to concentrate on the current problem – the funding shortfall for the fiscal year that began July 1 – rather than future scenarios.
Controller in San Diego: State Controller John Chiang is in San Diego Friday to discuss the budget crisis. He will speak at the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce’s “Good Government” series. As of Wednesday, his office issued $640 million of IOUs to state agencies and contractors.
Off-shore oil drilling: A proposal to allow new offshore oil leases is on the budget negotiating table. According to the environmental Web site — Red, Green and Blue — the proposal could rake in $1.8 billion in revenues for the state by in 13 years.
The site said if the deal were to be approved by Schwarzenegger, this would be the first time offshore oil leases are offered to Californians since the “1969 Santa Barbara oil spill and the California Sanctuary Act.”
Check back with SDNN for a full report of Chiang’s visit and continuous updates. Associated Press writer Judy Lin contributed to this report. Hoa Quach is the political editor for the San Diego News Network.