Democratic Legislators’ Budget Plan Rejects Proposed Pay Cut for In-Home Care Workers
A budget proposal released on Tuesday by Assembly Democrats calls for increased state income taxes for some residents and rejects a plan by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) to reduce the state's contribution to salaries for in-home care workers for state residents with disabilities, the Los Angeles Times reports (Halper, Los Angeles Times, 6/1). Under Schwarzenegger's plan, the hourly pay rate of about 300,000 in-home care workers would be reduced from $10.10 to the state's minimum wage of $6.75 (California Healthline, 5/16).
The Democrats' proposal would raise state income taxes on individuals whose annual incomes exceed $143,000 or couples whose annual incomes exceed $285,000 to help close a projected $6 billion budget deficit (Los Angeles Times, 6/1).
According to the Sacramento Bee, this is the "first time in years" Democrats "are unified in flatly calling for tax increases to help balance the budget."
A joint Assembly-Senate budget committee on Wednesday will begin negotiating a budget plan for fiscal year 2005-2006 to propose to the full Legislature and governor (Bluth, Sacramento Bee, 6/1).