SACRAMENTO – With a projected state budget deficit likely to be over $20 billion, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will unveil Friday afternoon (May 14) at 1:00 PM in a televised press conference, his revised State budget that is certain to contain new proposed massive spending reductions in order to close the budget gap without raising taxes. [Note: the time, though scheduled, could change or be slightly delayed]

The Governor’s press secretary, Aaron McLear gave a grim outlook on what the budget revisions will mean, telling the Sacramento Bee on Wednesday that “What you can expect generally is no taxes and terrible cuts, absolutely terrible cuts. We're not going to get through the deficit we have without some really tough decisions and some really terrible cuts."

While details are not yet available, it is known that new spending cut proposals will hit health and human services especially hard. Some of the proposals will likely be a repeat or slight re-tooling of proposals that the Governor previously proposed in January – including several which the Legislature has already rejected – that called for elimination or major scale back of many health and human service programs including those impacting hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities, mental health needs, the blind, seniors, their families, community organizations and workers who provide supports and services across the State.

CDCAN will issue a report as soon as information becomes available Friday afternoon and also will schedule next week a CDCAN Townhall Telemeeting on the budget proposals including budget reductions and its impact on people with disabilities, mental health needs, seniors and others.

Long Budget Stand-off Like With Legislature Deeply Divided

The Legislature remains deeply divided on how to close the budget gap – with Assembly Republicans, led by Assembly Republican Leader Martin Garrick (Republican – San Diego), saying on Wednesday that they “…will not support higher taxes period” and instead urged that a budget plan include spending cuts and proposals that will increase private sector jobs.” Senate Republicans have issued similar statements.

Assembly Speaker John Perez (Democrat – Los Angeles), promising that there would be no “backroom” budget deals, said that “everything” – including possibly suspending the education funding guarantee (Proposition 98) and increasing taxes – should be on the table along with spending cuts for consideration.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (Democrat – Sacramento) agreed that new tax revenues should be on the table, including rescinding some corporate tax credits.

What Is the Governor’s Budget Revisions or “ May Revise”

· The State Constitution requires the governor to submit to the Legislature on or before January 10th each year, a proposed State budget for the state budget year that begins July 1st and ends June 30th. That proposed state budget is based on actual revenue and spending numbers coming from the various state agencies and departments as of November 30th.

· State law also requires the governor to submit in mid-May any updated spending and revenue numbers and any revisions – including any new proposals. The budget revision in May helps policymakers to make decisions (in theory anyways) based on updated actual revenue and spending numbers.

· Both the original proposed state budget released in January and the May budget revisions (called the “May Revise”) require approval of the Legislature. None of the Governor’s proposals can go into effect unless the Assembly and State Senate – both controlled by Democrats – approve the Governor’s proposals.

· Approval of the State Budget requires 2/3rds vote in both houses – which means 54 votes in the 80 member Assembly and 27 votes in the 40 member State Senate. Democrats control both houses – but still need some Republican votes in order to pass a budget with 2/3rds vote.

Governor’s Office Will Hold Telephone Briefing Friday On Health and Human Services Budget Issues

· The Governor’s office, as it has for the past several years, will host a briefing by telephone that usually features top Schwarzenegger Administration officials who will give a brief overview and sometimes answer some questions regarding proposals impacting health and human services.

· While the briefing call is by “invitation only”, the invite has been widely forwarded to many people and posted on several list serves. Because of that, CDCAN is reporting the information so others can have that information too.

· The original invite was sent out by email on May 13th by Bismarck Obando, Governor’s office - Director of External Affairs, (916) 324-7745 and also by senior staffers from the various field offices of the Governor as follows:

You are invited to participate in an invitation-only briefing call tomorrow, Friday, May 14, at 2:30 PM for a briefing regarding the Health and Human Services impacts of the budget proposals in Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s May Revision.

The call-in number is: 888-847-7595

Password: “CHHS Budget”