Specifics of California’s budget cuts

Lawmakers on Friday approved $92.1-billion budget plan, which now awaits Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature or veto. It still may be modified before a July 1 deadline.

Social services

Spending on welfare, child care and home care for the elderly and disabled would be reduced but not by as much as Brown wanted. CalWORKs, the state welfare program, is facing the biggest hit at $428 million. Brown wanted to reduce monthly checks for people who have been on welfare for more than two years and not met work requirements. Lawmakers countered by continuing to exempt welfare recipients with young children from work requirements, which allows the state to cut spending on job training and other services. Cuts to state-supported child care would total $240 million. In-Home Supportive Services, which allow some elderly residents to avoid being moved into nursing homes, would be reduced by about $90 million. The cut means 3.6% fewer hours of care for beneficiaries.

Health programs

Lawmakers have proposed more than $1 billion in cuts to Medi-Cal, the insurance program for the poor, and other state health programs. The bulk of the savings — $663 million — would come from a plan to move 1.4 million low-income seniors and people with disabilities who receive benefits from both Medicare and Medi-Cal into managed care. The budget also is banking on an improving economy to lower the state’s costs for healthcare for the poor. It assumes hundreds of thousands of people will go off Medi-Cal as they or family members return to work. Since 2008, Medi-Cal rolls have swelled to nearly 8 million people, up from about 6 million before the recession began. The proposal also includes about $88 million in reduced reimbursements to private hospitals and nursing homes. Although the federal government has rejected most of the Brown administration’s requests to have the poor pay a share of their own healthcare costs, the budget does include patient co-pays for a few services, including non-emergency visits to an emergency room and certain prescription drugs. It also calls for poor patients with AIDS to pay more for their medication.

Prisons and courts

To save billions over the next few years, officials want to close a prison, end contracts with private out-of-state facilities and cancel some construction projects. They also plan to shift staff to reduce costs, hold inmates in less-expensive housing and continue sending low-level offenders to county jails instead of state prisons.

As for the state court system, Brown has called for slicing $300 million from the trial courts. Up to 38 construction projects also would be halted because of an additional $240 million in budget cuts. California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye has said those proposals, which the Legislature backs, could lead to more courtroom closures, depriving residents of access to the judicial system.

State workers

The budget proposes cutting compensation for 182,000 state workers by 5%, saving $402 million. That includes nurses, engineers, administrative workers and highway patrol officers. However, it’s not clear exactly how the money would be saved. Brown has pledged to negotiate the cuts with public employee unions, and so far has reached only one agreement. In May, he proposed shifting many workers to a 38-hour, four-day work week.

Education

The governor and lawmakers have opted to leave the financial fate of the state’s public schools, community colleges and universities in the hands of voters. Brown hopes to place an initiative on the November ballot that would hike sales taxes and upper-income taxes. The measure would raise $8 billion in the next budget year, according to administration figures, and leave schools relatively untouched by this year’s budget ax. If those taxes are rejected, a series of trigger cuts would go into effect, including a $5.5-billion reduction to public schools and community colleges. The trigger cuts also include $250-million reductions each to the California State University and University of California systems. Education leaders say tuition increases would be likely if Brown’s initiative were rejected. Lawmakers also have proposed eliminating dozens of earmarks for specific programs within the state’s public K-12 system, opting instead to send block grants from Sacramento.

State parks

In a last-minute effort to prevent 70 state parks from closing July 1, lawmakers shifted money within the budget to keep natural and historic sites open to the public. The budget proposal would increase park funding by tapping federal funds for water improvements and motor vehicle registration fees. It also encourages the state to collect entrance fees at more parks and seek additional contracts with private companies to operate things like concession stands.

— Chris Megerian and Anthony York