California Democratic Leaders Say Budget Plan Avoids More Health Cuts

On Wednesday, legislative Democrats said that their budget plan including tax increases represents their best attempt to address the state budget deficit without adopting further cuts to health care and education, the Sacramento Bee reports.

The tax increases largely would focus on high-income Californians and corporations (Lin, Sacramento Bee, 7/10).

The Democrats' plan aims to use the tax increases to provide more funding for health care, education and public safety programs than Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) advocated in his own budget proposal.

Citing an estimated $9 billion in cuts the Legislature already has approved, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) said, "We can't cut anymore so the bottom line is we've proposed a revenue package" (Garcia, San Jose Mercury News, 7/10).

Republican lawmakers are maintaining their opposition to the plan, meaning that it will most likely fall short of the two-thirds majority support needed for passage (Sacramento Bee, 7/10).

The governor is expected to soon begin a series of private meetings with legislative leaders to discuss the budget (San Jose Mercury News, 7/10).

On Wednesday, KPCC's "Patt Morrison" included a discussion on the budget with Bass and Assembly member Roger Niello (R-Sacramento), vice chair of the Assembly Budget Committee (Morrison, "Patt Morrison," KPCC, 7/9).