Press Democrat

By MICHAEL COIT
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

North Coast lawmakers said Gov. Arnold Schwarznegger's State of the State speech was thin on new ideas, particularly for eliminating a $14 billion budget deficit without raising taxes.

"It's hard to see how we're going to get there with the meager amount of solutions that he laid out," said Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael.

"It was really kind of disappointing," said Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa. "I felt he could have laid out a road map of where we ought to go."

The Republican governor's offer to work with Democratic lawmakers as partners was welcomed by North Coast lawmakers. They recalled a less conciliatory tone two years ago when he proposed several ballot initiatives, including a bid for broad budgetary powers that voters ultimately rejected.

Still, lawmakers said, the governor's proposals to date focus too much on spending cuts and not enough on boosting revenue. They also were surprised by his renewed call for a constitutional amendment to gain greater control over the state budget.

"While some cuts will have to be made, he needs to provide more leadership in these difficult times," Sen. Pat Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa, said. "He doesn't need any additional tools in order to move our state in a positive direction, but he does need to make choices more difficult than what we have seen and heard from him so far."

Lawmakers said the governor cannot push for spending cuts that would fall hardest on the young, poor and disabled without considering raising income taxes or boosting fees.

"For years we have compromised these programs by cutting their funding in a vain effort to balance this budget," Evans said. "This vicious cycle cannot continue."

There is not $14 billion of waste that can be cut to balance the budget, said Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Eureka.

"In the past we've done it without tax increases essentially by cutting spending and borrowing and now we're at the end of those possibilities," she said. "This provides us a great opportunity not only in dealing with a structural budget deficit but answering the question of what kind of state California wants to be in the 21st century. What are we going to be, what do we want to pay for ?"