It’s Depressing

Gov. George Deukmejian whacked $472 million from an already-decimated state budget on Friday, and, acting as if it were Christmas in July, proclaimed that “the economy is booming and California is ready for the future.” Next to Deukmejian, Scrooge and the Grinch seem like generous fellows.

This was the budget that went to the governor with the lament of the Legislature’s chief budget architect that, after nearly $1 billion in legislative cuts, it stopped just short of dooming California to a Dark Age. That still was too extravagant for Deukmejian, who pushed it over the edge by slashing another half a billion.

The bulk of his cuts came in areas that already have suffered shamefully: nearly $200 million from health and welfare programs. Among smaller items, the governor continued his vendetta against the California Coastal Commission by cutting its budget 14.5% and ordering it to close its Central California office. And he padded the state’s emergency reserve fund by another $100 million at the expense of vetoed items throughout the ranks of state services.

No one escapes blame for this year’s fiscal mess, though. This was a year of budgeting by bludgeon. Nothing was subtle. Democratic leaders in the Legislature made preemptive strikes against Deukmejian by slashing spending for many programs that have the Republican governor’s highest priority--like corrections, tourist promotion and state funds for the assumption of trial-court costs from the counties.

But most of the responsibility for this miserly budget rests squarely with the governor. Miffed that critics called it a tax increase, Deukmejian reneged on his own plan to make up for $800 million of the state’s unexpected revenue shortfall. Then he refused to consider any of several other reasonable plans to recoup some of the lost tax money, which amounted to an unintended tax cut for the wealthy.

Deukmejian will try in August to persuade the Legislature to restore its cuts in his own favored programs. The Legislature should do that, but only if the governor agrees to the Senate-passed $560-million revenue plan. It is not a tax increase, but would merely accelerate collection of some state taxes to make up for part of the revenue shortage. The money is earmarked for restoration of some of the more painful budget cuts, including the $358 million to the counties for court operations.

California is booming and the state’s fiscal condition is good, the governor said Friday. That is true. But the notion that this budget is preparing California for a bright future is fraudulent. California, which used to be No. 1 in almost any category, now has the nation’s most crowded schoolrooms and ranks 50th among the 50 states in per capita spending on highways. California will grow by 600,000 residents in the coming year and have 140,000 more public-school students. There is a crisis in emergency health services, AIDS research and treatment and care for the elderly. The average family no longer can enter the housing market. Environmental problems are mounting. The list goes on to depressing lengths.

The road to a bright future for California is not downward into the black hole of the 1988-89 state budget.