In an effort to frighten the public into allowing themselves to be shaken down for 5 more years of higher taxes, California Senate Democrats yesterday called the first hearing to debate the spending cuts that may be necessary if taxes aren't extended to close the budget deficit. According to
Wyatt Buchanan of the
San Francisco Chronicle and
Shane Goldmacher of the
LA Times, the cuts discussed included:
- Closing some UC or CSU campuses, or converting some UCs to liberal arts colleges
- Cutting teachers' pay by 5%
- Shortening the K-12 school year, which, according to Buchanan, would save $200 million for each day dropped
- Ending a grant program to subsidize the hiring of new police officers
- Cutting half the state's workforce, which would save $5 billion
Because this is the California Legislature we're talking about, this is still very much about trying to scare the public. Notably absent from the discussion were any elements of the
pension reform proposal Jerry Brown released a couple weeks ago; while not enough to solve the problem, they would certainly help. Also absent was any notion of shelving the new spending proposals these same Democrats came up with
earlier this week. Hell, we're not even talking about cutting a $500,000 bus to Dodger Stadium.
Also absent from the discussion is the simple reality that California is out of money, and needs to cut itself down to size before its state of perpetual crisis can come to an end.
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