Field Poll: 37% of Calif. Voters Say Latest Budget Cuts Are Too Severe
Thirty-seven percent of California voters said that budget cuts included in the fiscal year 2012-2013 spending plan go too far, according to a new Field Poll, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Meanwhile, 28% of voters said that the cuts included in the plan do not go far enough, while 24% of voters said the plan includes the appropriate amount of cuts (Siders, Sacramento Bee, 7/4).
Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed the spending plan last week.
Details of Spending Plan
The spending plan:
- Eliminates Healthy Families -- California's Children's Health Insurance Program -- and moves the 880,000 children enrolled in the program to Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program;
- Reduces state child care assistance by 8.7%, which would reduce the number of slots available to low-income families by 10,600;
- Reduces In-Home Supportive Services workers' hours by 3.6%;
- Phases in a two-year time limit for new beneficiaries to find work under CalWORKs, the state's welfare-to-work program; and
- Requires higher graduation rates for colleges and universities to qualify for state college aid and reduces financial aid to college students.
The budget plan relies on voters approving a compromise tax hike initiative developed by Brown and supporters of the "Millionaires Tax."
In addition, the budget plan includes a "trigger provision" that would cut $5.9 billion from public schools if the tax hike does not pass (California Healthline, 6/29).
Poll Findings
According to the poll, the proportion of voters who said that this year's budget cuts go too far is higher than the 27% who said the budget cuts included in last year's spending plan went too far.
The poll also found that 72% of voters said they oppose the automatic cuts that would be triggered if voters do not pass the compromise tax hike plan.
In addition, it found that:
- 44% of voters approve of Brown's job performance, while 42% disapprove of his performance; and
- 26% of voters said that the state is headed in the right direction, while 64% said the state is headed in the wrong direction (Sacramento Bee, 7/4).