Fans of disaster movies may enjoy Gov. Brown's press conference on the May budget revise today. (Watch it here.)
The deficit is now officially $15.7 billion, not the roughly $9 billion originally projected. The proposed budget cuts assume passage of Brown's tax initiative in November, which accounts for $8.5 billion of the plan's increased revenue. An April PPIC poll found just 54 percent would vote yes on the measure, which needs a two-thirds majority to pass.
If the tax plan doesn't pass, the cuts would be more severe, including a $5.5-billion cut to public schools.
Brown blamed the substantially larger deficit, which he first announced in a YouTube video on Saturday, on a too-optimistic forecast of revenue coming in from tax receipts; on a mandated increase in school funding due to Prop 98; and on the prevention of some cuts in state health services by the federal government.
Anthony York of the LA Times reports on the cuts being proposed should the tax initiative pass:
To close the wider gap, Brown has heightened the cuts he wants to make to Medi-Cal, to $1.2 billion, and maintained another $1.2 billion in welfare and child-care savings he proposed in January.
He also wants to slash payments to people who care for the disabled by 7%...He proposed $500 million in cuts to the state's struggling court system, including a one-year freeze on all new construction projects.
Kevin Yamamura of the Bee reports on other aspects of the plan:
The Democratic governor relies on a patchwork of solutions to bridge the gap in a $91.4 billion general fund spending plan, including deeper cuts, his November tax initiative and taking money from a multi-state mortgage abuse settlement with banks.
Among the most unusual ideas: asking state employees to work four days a week for a total of 38 hours instead of 40, or 9.5-hour shifts. Brown suggested in the budget that the proposal would save operational costs by shutting down offices once a week in addition to 5 percent of salary. The proposal would likely have to be bargained with labor unions since Democratic lawmakers will not impose the cuts unilaterally.
The governor also proposed giving UC $38 million less than he did earlier this year. Both proposals make it more likely that UC will raise tuition in 2012-13 after UC officials said last week they needed an additional $125 million to avoid a 6 percent hike on students.
The plan also takes into account a projected $1.2 billion from the Facebook IPO.