November 19, 2008
The Governor’s proposed November revision generates $4.7 billion in new revenue through some taxes but also proposes $4.5 billion in new cuts to the state budget that was just passed in September. Proposed CSU system cuts include all of the $97 million that was restored in the May Revise as a result of concerted Alliance for the CSU efforts.
The new proposed budget cuts are on top of the $10.8 billion that was cut from the General Fund in the budget that was signed in September. The new cuts include the loss of two holidays and a furlough program representing a 5% cut in pay for state Civil Service workers represented by SEIU Local 1000, our sister union in CSEA. The Department of Personnel Administration (DPA) presented the Furlough proposal last Sunday at the bargaining table. In addition, the DPA presented holiday and overtime proposals that change the way overtime is calculated for Local 1000-represented employees who work the holidays. These are only proposals at this time and show that the Governor continues to use state workers as pawns in the state budget, just as he did last August when he proposed to lower their wages to federal minimum wage.
The Governor’s Director of Finance, Mike Genest, has also started to take the budget problem public with a Budget Myths Busted PowerPoint presentation that lays out both the problem and the Governor’s revised budget proposal. It shows that, although the current administration has brought spending under control compared to other governors, there still is a gap due to a lack of revenue. The question remains: what would have happened if we had had revenue solutions earlier in this budget year or in previous budgets?
The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) also weighs in on the Governor’s proposal and on the need to make mid-year cuts and revenue adjustments. The LAO Budget Overview supports the actions of the Schwarzenegger administration and projects a dim long-term forecast for the California budget, with an immediate $28 billion dollar hole in the budget over the next 20 months.
Special Session Impacts on the CSU
The special session proposals by Governor Schwarzenegger take the CSU system back to his January budget proposal and have the cumulative effect of cutting $97 million out of the current year budget. On November 6, the Chancellor’s office distributed a press release explaining its perspective on the mid-year cuts. The proposed cuts require both adoption by the legislature and signature by the Governor to go into effect. We will be asking each CSUEU member to contact their legislature with a message to stop the cuts, seek new revenues, and invest in the CSU for the future of California.
2009-2010 Trustee’s Budget Request
Today the CSU Trustees stayed the course on the budget needs for the CSU and passed a budget request based upon the “compact” funding to meet the growing needs of the CSU. The 2009-2010 Budget request continues the pattern, requesting what the CSU needs and remaining consistent with the most recent budget requests to fund the labor contracts. The budget process will officially start in January with the Governor’s budget. The current year budget and future budgets are linked, as any revenue increases will have a positive effective moving forward.