Assembly GOP Releases Budget Plan With Deeper Health Cuts

On Thursday, Republican Assembly members released a state budget proposal that relies on further cuts to health and human services, funding shifts and a recent spike in tax revenue, the Sacramento Bee reports (Yamamura, Sacramento Bee, 5/13).

Unlike Gov. Jerry Brown's (D) budget proposal, the GOP plan does not include tax extensions (Goldmacher, Los Angeles Times, 5/13).

Background

In March, Brown signed legislation to cut state spending by $11.2 billion. The measures included deep cuts to several health programs.

Brown initially planned to close the remaining $15.4 billion deficit by putting a tax extension measure before voters in a June special election, but GOP lawmakers have refused to support the proposal. The governor now is working on a plan to close the state's remaining deficit (California Healthline, 3/3).

Health Care Cuts in GOP Plan

The GOP plan calls for voters to approve a temporary funding shift that would take $2.4 billion away from:

First 5, California's early childhood health and education program; and
Proposition 63, a state fund for mental health care services.

The plan alsoÂ includes $1.3 billion in spending reductions that initially were proposed by Brown but were rejected by Democratic lawmakers. Those cuts target:

Adult day health care centers;
Certain in-home support services for elderly Californians and residents with disabilities; and
Grants for CalWORKS, California's welfare-to-work program (Hagen, Contra Costa Times, 5/12).

In addition, theÂ Republican plan aims to reduce state spending by:

$400 million by transferring prison health care services to the University of California or the private sector; and
$300 million by reducing fraud in Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program.Â

The GOP proposal also assumes about $5 billion more in tax receipts than the governor assumed in his January plan. Over the past four months, state tax collections have exceeded earlier projections by about $2.5 billion, and Republicans say they expect the trend to continue (Los Angeles Times, 5/13).

Democrats Respond

Brown and other Democratic lawmakers said the GOP proposal is filled with gimmicky maneuvers that do little to resolve the imbalance between state revenue and state spending (Sacramento Bee, 5/13).

Gil Duran, spokesperson for Brown, said the GOP plan is "the usual smoke-and-mirrors, head-in-the sand approach, with a short-term fix that will do nothing to get us out of the mess we're in" (Buchanan, San Francisco Chronicle, 5/13).

Editorial

A San Jose Mercury News editorial states that Assembly Republicans have "provided a valuable service by showing what an all-cuts budget, without tax extensions, would look like." It continues that the GOP proposal to cut an additional $1.3 billion from health care and social services "would throw California back into the Dark Ages" (San Jose Mercury News, 5/13).

Broadcast Coverage

Headlines and links to broadcast coverage of the Assembly GOP budget plan are provided below.

"Dems Quick To Criticize Assembly GOP Budget Proposal" (Adler, "KXJZ News," Capital Public Radio, 5/12).
"Assembly Republicans Roll Out Budget Framework" (Russ, "KXJZ News," Capital Public Radio, 5/12).
"California Assembly Republicans Offer Counter Budget" (Small, "KPCC News," KPCC, 5/12).

This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.