Laird Statement on Governor's Line Item Budget Vetoes

SACRAMENTO – Assembly Budget Committee Chair John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) today released the following statement regarding Governor Schwarzenegger’s line item vetoes in the state budget:

“With the governor’s line item vetoes, we’re left with a budget that is a mixed bag with serious impacts we will feel locally,” said Assemblymember Laird.  “We successfully fought to stop cuts in K-12 and higher education.  And UC growth mitigation and Lighthouse Field land transfer language remains in the budget.  However, I’m deeply disappointed in the governor’s decision to make significant cuts that truly impact libraries, people who are homeless and mentally ill, adult protective services, public transit and parks maintenance.

For 52 days the state budget was held hostage while constantly changing demands were made.  It is unfortunate and frustrating that the most important result of the budget impasse is the $700 million in cuts the governor decided to make—cuts that were not part of the public vetting process that the rest of the budget goes through over the course of approximately 5 months and 150 hearings.

There is one clear way to prevent the kind of budget meltdown that resulted in today’s news about the governor’s line time vetoes: reform the 2/3 vote requirement for passing the state budget.  California is joined by Arkansas and Rhode Island as the only states with this requirement.  The budget of the eighth largest economy in the world should not be subject to a process that allows for what has been called ‘fiscal terrorism’.   I’m hopeful a window has opened to pursuing desperately needed reforms to our budget process.”

For more on the governor’s line item vetoes, go to: http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/pdf/Enacted/BudgetSummary/FullBudgetSummary.pdf (section on vetoes begins on page 79)