Digital News Report – Governor Jerry Brown is preparing a budget proposal with some spending cuts. The goal is t balance the budget, according to Brown, and the proposal is to cut $12.5 billion.
The governor is also asking for a temporary five-year extension of several current taxes. The plan is to put $1 billion into a “rainy day” fund and close the budget deficit.
The cuts include a 10 percent cut in take-home pay for most state employees. But the proposed cuts may not go far enough, according to some lawmakers.
Senator Mimi Walters and others in the State Senate are considering cuts in state employee pensions. Walters calls the public pensions the “single biggest threat to the long–term well–being of our state.”
By Mark Williams