Healthy Families Funding Partially Restored

The state legislature has voted to restore funding for the Healthy Families program by passing Assembly Bill (AB) 1422.

This follows a previous state senate vote about two weeks ago.

If Arnold Schwarzenegger signs AB 1422, it would reverse some of the spending cuts that were imposed on the program earlier this summer.

Healthy Families provides medical insurance to low-income children.

The basis for restoration of funding for Healthy Families are new taxes on Medi-Cal participants.

AB 1422 levies a two-year tax (2.35%) on health plans that administer Medi-Cal benefits.

This means that private health insurers will receive higher Medi-Cal reimbursement rates from the state.

The measure also raises premiums and co-payments on Medi-Cal patients.

Specifically, certain families on Medi-Cal would face higher premiums of $4 to $7 per child.

Those earning less than 150% of the federal poverty rate would be exempt from the higher premiums.

Almost 100,000 children were put on a waiting list after the state froze enrollment in Healthy Familie this past July. 

Schwarzenegger Threatens to Shut Down the State

Democrats in the California state assembly employed a series of legal maneuvers to push through a proposal to balance the state's $24 billion budget deficit without any Republican votes over the weekend.

The plan, which includes $11 billion worth of cuts and $10 billion worth of accounting maneuvers, is now in the state senate.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has threatened to veto the plan on principle, should it reach his desk, because it contains $2 billion worth of revenue solutions consisting of an oil severance tax and a tax on cigarettes, measures that Schwarzenegger himself had previously proposed.

If Schwarzenegger believes that it is possible to balance the state budget without these revenue solutions, as paltry as they are, then he just doesn't understand economics.

Should he actually follow through on his threat to veto the Democratic plan, blame for shutting down the state would rest squarely on his shoulders.

While Schwarzenegger has been prone to using threats, coercion, and other ham-fisted approaches to realize the vision of a state with no capacity to provide social or educational services to the citizens of California, it is unclear whether he actually has the courage to take the blame for shutting down the state.

With California just a few days away from having to issue IOUs to pay its bills, the only way to win this game of budget chicken and avert the prospect of California taking its place among the Third World, an outcome that corporatists like Schwarzenegger and the Republicans have been planning for decades, is for Democrats to concede nothing and place a budget on Schwarzenegger's desk that includes new revenues.

This will put Schwarzenegger into a position where he will either have to make good on his threats or look like a complete hypocrite. If past performance is any indication, he will find an excuse to sign it.

Child Care Providers United of California Responds to Schwarzenegger's Budget Challenge

Arnold Schwarzenegger has invited Californians to try their hand at balancing the state's 2009-2010 budget by using an online tool provided by the Los Angeles Times.

By submitting to the limitations of the L.A. Times's budget tool and accepting the small range of options it serves up, Californians who wish to balance the state budget fairly and equitably would, by default, have to accept many of the spending cuts Schwarzenegger has already proposed in order to arrive at a balanced budget.

Child Care Providers United (CCPUnited) of California categorically rejects any cuts to education, human service, and health programs whose loss would negatively impact children and families who work for a living such as CalWorks and Healthy Families. CCPUnited also categorically rejects any and all tax breaks, tax credits, and subsidies that favor the wealthy and politically connected.

Nevertheless, CCPUnited of California has decided to participate in this exercise in order to show that revenues and only revenues will be able to right California's fast sinking ship of state.  Between $13.2 billion worth of new revenue solutions that polls show a majority of California voters support and $2.8 billion in cuts that fall largely on the state prison system, which polls also show a majority of voters favor, CCPUnited has managed to reduce the state's $24 billion deficit to just under $8 billion.

At this point in the experiment, it is apparent that it will be necessary to employ options that do not appear in the L.A. Times's interactive budget tool such as a carbon tax ($7.5 billion) and restoring the vehicle license fee (VLF) to 2% ($2 billion) in order to bring the remaining $8 billion shortfall in line with progressive values.

Read on for more details of our experiment using the L.A. Times's interactive budget tool:

Click to read more ...

Republicans: California's for the Rich! Poor People Get Out Now!

Updated on Friday, May 29, 2009 at 2:10PM by Admin

California Republican State Assemblymember Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine) airs his views."When you have an unemployment rate as high as it is in this state, it should be a signal to people to look for jobs in other states with more jobs and a lower cost of living. . . We have had policies subsidizing poverty in this state for years, and we can't keep doing that."

This statement from California Republican State Assemblymember Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine) pretty much sums up the Republican political philosophy in a nutshell.

That's why alternative budget proposals like the one recently put out by the American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) warrant serious consideration.

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Special Election II Flops, Battle for the Budget Begins Anew

May 13 rally in Los Angeles against Propositions 1A, 1D, & 1EIt's official.  California voters have handed Arnold Schwarzenegger and his cadre of special interests another resounding special election defeat.  This is a victory for proponents of public services, fiscal responsibility, child care and mental health programs, and the No on 1D & 1E campaign.  Now the battle for the 2010 state budget begins.

Schwarzenegger has threatened deep cuts, but a majority of voters throughout California oppose cuts to public services such as roads, public transportation, environmental regulation, water storage, programs for the disabled, mental health programs, child care, public schools, health care, and higher education.

This, according to a field poll taken between April 16-26, 2009.

The same poll also found that voters favor cuts to the state's prison-industrial complex and would support higher taxes on the wealthy and specific industries like oil, tobacco, and alcohol.

These findings offer a working blueprint for a progressive state budget in 2010.

Click to read more ...