Maggie
Weasel Zippers
3/26/2011
Oh! Thank goodness he didn’t touch the California public unions with that sharp cutting knife of his!
(LA Times) — Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law billions of dollars in budget cuts Thursday that will mean fewer government services, particularly for the old, the poor and the sick.
The governor signed the new laws to tackle $11.2 billion of the state’s estimated $26-billion deficit, even as he scrambled to find Republican support for the other half of his budget plan: a ballot measure asking voters’ blessing to renew expiring taxes. Time is running out to place such a measure on the June ballot, he said.
State officials will now begin notifying many Californians that their government benefits are to be cut within 90 days — at just about the start of the new budget year. Come July, welfare grants will be reduced by 8%, and parents will be kicked off the rolls after four years instead of the current five.
Assistance for the elderly and disabled, in their homes and at senior centers, will also be reduced. State-subsidized child care for 11- and 12-year-olds will be eliminated.
Brown sought to use the “painful” cuts he signed to make his case that Republicans should support the plan to ask voters to pay more taxes to bridge the remaining shortfall…
Read the rest at Weasel Zippers. Also at their site, Florida House approvies bill banning automatic deduction for union dues; members must sign off on political contributions. The party’s over…
