Area Reps Mixed on New Budget

Local Democrats say the budget protects at-risk programs, but Republicans say it is far too ‘liberal.’

September 4, 2007

BURBANK — More than a week after the governor signed a state budget, local lawmakers and public agencies are still coming to terms with the contentious $145-billion spending bill, and the 52-day political battle that delayed its passage.

In enacting the plan, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger followed through with a promise to Republicans to cut an additional $703 million from a budget that Democrats say had already gone under the knife.

“Before [the Assembly] broke for vacation, we passed a budget that was already fiscally responsible,” said Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, a Democrat whose district includes Glendale and Burbank. “It was already a budget that protected the most vulnerable Californians without raising taxes, kept a healthy reserve and fully funded education and public safety.”

When the Assembly departed Sacramento on July 20, they left a $145-billion budget in the hands of the Senate. That plan already came with a list of “painful cuts,” including about $1.3 billion in state transportation funds, Krekorian said.

But the Assembly budget stalled in the Senate, where Republicans were reportedly holding out for an additional $1 billion in cuts, which they say were necessary for a balanced budget.

After a month of debate within the state Senate, however, the budget package that made its way to the governor’s desk was largely the same as what the Assembly had already approved, said state Sen. Jack Scott, a Democrat whose district includes Glendale and Burbank.

“I really felt that the delay was unfortunate and I felt that the Republican senators actually accomplished little as a result of their holdout because the governor already promised that he would make those $700 million in cuts...and he did,” Scott said.

A constitutional rule that requires a 2/3 majority in the legislature to pass a state budget — a practice in place in only two other states, Rhode Island and Arkansas — allowed the minority Republicans to delay a budget that was largely backed by Democrats, Krekorian said.

That power allowed the Republicans to notch — in addition to the governor’s promised line-item vetoes — one key victory.

As part of an effort to reduce costs for developers and promote growth, Senate Republicans succeeded in attaching a rule to the budget that will eliminate for two years California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown’s ability to sue local municipalities who fail to enact planning policies that would reduce greenhouse gases, said Republican Assemblyman Anthony Adams, whose district includes La Crescenta.

That push centered around a lawsuit Brown filed against San Bernardino County — that was settled last week — which Brown reportedly said failed to take into account the state’s goal of reducing greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2010. The goal was established by Assembly Bill 32.

“The work that Jerry Brown was engaging in had a chilling effect on a number of municipalities who were trying to do the work of the people,” Adams said. “This gave assurance that municipalities could act in good faith without fear of reprisal from the attorney general’s office.”

That victory justified the Republican Senate’s unwillingness to approve the Assembly’s budget, said state Sen. Bob Margett, whose district includes La Crescenta.

“Assembly Bill 32 has to be implemented not in such away that it ruptures the state’s industry,” Margett said. “So many of our industries are on thin lines, going into a type of recession and we’re already looking at businesses not looking to do their productions in California.”

The budget approved by the governor, even with his extra cuts, was still too liberal in its spending for Margett.

“Look, nobody wants a cut, but $700 million is minuscule in the overall scheme of things to that budget,” he said. “Those cuts are not a lot, but hey, every little bit helps.”

But Natalie Profant Komuro, executive director of PATH Achieve — which provides homeless services in Glendale — said that a $55-million cut included in the budget to services for the mentally impaired homeless is hardly a drop in the bucket.

“I think that we can be pretty sure that the impact will be felt by mental health facilities,” she said, referencing facilities that work largely to curtail recidivism among the homeless population.

“It will certainly be felt by law enforcement and hospitals.”