Assembly Democrats Release FY 2012-2013 Budget Proposal
On Monday, Assembly Democrats released a budget proposal for fiscal year 2012-2013 that includes fewer cuts to health and welfare programs than Gov. Jerry Brown's (D) revised fiscal year 2012-2013 budget plan, the Sacramento Bee's "Capitol Alert" reports (Yamamura, "Capitol Alert," Sacramento Bee, 6/11).
Details of Brown's Revised Budget Plan
Brown's $91.4 billion revised budget plan calls for cutting:
- $1.2 billion from Medi-Cal -- California's Medicaid program -- by merging services for beneficiaries eligible for both Medi-Cal and Medicare and reducing payments to hospitals and nursing homes;
- $946.2 million from CalWORKs -- the state's welfare-to-work program -- by limiting the amount of time most adults could be in the program from four years to two years;
- $225 million from In-Home Supportive Services -- which provides services for the elderly and people who are blind or have disabilities -- by eliminating domestic assistance for beneficiaries in shared living environments and reducing worker payments by 7%; and
- $64 million from Healthy Families, California's Children's Health Insurance Program, by moving children out of the program (California Healthline, 6/8).
Details of Assembly Democrats' Plan
The Assembly Democrats' proposal would:
- Maintain Brown's proposal to reduce hours to IHSS beneficiaries by 3.6%, but reject an additional 3.4 percentage point cut sought by the governor;
- Reject Brown's proposal to eliminate pay to IHSS providers for performing domestic services such as laundry and house cleaning; and
- Reject Brown's CalWORKs overhaul and instead seek $327 million in savings by providing fewer job training and child care services to parents of young children.
In addition, the proposal calls for a $614 million state budget reserve, which is $434 million less than the $1.048 billion reserve included in Brown's revised budget plan ("Capitol Alert," Sacramento Bee, 6/11).
Assembly member Bob Blumenfield (D-Woodland Hills) -- chair of the Assembly Budget Committee -- said, "Our budget eliminates the structural deficit, includes a modest reserve and differs only from Gov. Brown's plan by less than one percent of total spending" (Harmon, Contra Costa Times, 6/11).
Democratic leaders gave Brown a version of the plan on Monday, but the governor's support remains unclear. Brown spokesperson Gil Duran said, "Discussions are ongoing."
Timeline
The Assembly and Senate are scheduled to review the budget proposal in committee on Tuesday ("Capitol Alert," Sacramento Bee, 6/11).
Lawmakers must approve a spending plan by Friday, the constitutional deadline for sending a finalized budget to the governor (Yamamura, Sacramento Bee, 6/12).
Broadcast Coverage
On Monday, Capital Public Radio's "KXJZ News" reported on the budget plan released by Assembly Democrats (Ray, "KXJZ News," Capital Public Radio, 6/11).
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