CA Budget UPDATE: Assembly Minimal Cuts - Senate Eliminate All Funds

ASSEMBLY PROPOSES ONLY MINIMAL CUTS; THE SENATE RECOMMENDS ELIMINATION OF ALL FUNDS
CLA Blog: 2.18.11 by Mike Dillon & Christina DiCaro, CLA Lobbyists

ASSEMBLY PROPOSES MINIMAL CUTS TO LIBRARY PROGRAMS:

Today, the Assembly Budget Committee made a strong statement in favor of the protection of the California Library Services Act and the Public Library Foundation by reducing these two programs that were proposed for complete elimination ($12.9 million and $12.9 million respectively) by only $1.5 million each. The Committee recommendation leaves intact the $4.6 million in funding for the California Library Literacy Program [English Acquisition and Literacy Program].

The official action the Assembly Budget Committee took today relative to the library funding is as follows:

"California State Library. Reductions. Reduces the magnitude of reductions to preserve the English Acquisition and Literacy Program, and reduces the Public Library Foundation and the California Library Services Act by $1.5 million each."

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The vote on the proposed action today was on a strict party-line vote, with all Democrats voting "aye" and Republicans voting "no."

SENATE PROPOSES ELIMINATION OF ALL $30.4 MILLION IN LIBRARY FUNDING

In stark contrast to the action by the Assembly today, yesterday the Senate Budget Committee voted to approve most of the Governor's Budget proposals "as is," including the proposed action relative to the CLSA, PLF, and literacy funding. The Senate's action adopts the Governor's proposal to totally eliminate the three library programs, for a scoring of $30.4 million.

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The Senate Budget Chair, Mark Leno stated, "This is not an easy decision for us and one that we need to take seriously." A member of the Committee then quickly made the motion to "support the Governor's proposal." Senators Lois Wolk, Joe Simitian, and Education Budget Subcommittee Chair Senator Carol Liu, all abstained from the vote. We were intrigued that there was no debate on the issue, which signaled to us that the vote was a larger statement about the Senate's intention to work with the Governor, make hard choices, and to continue the discussions regarding painful cuts to programs such as the libraries.

NEXT STEPS - ITEMS HEAD TO CONFERENCE COMMITTEE

Due to the different actions between the two houses relative to the library programs and their funding levels, this will force these three issues into "Conference Committee."

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Due to the truncated process this year, however, the Budget Conference Committee will begin meeting next week, likely on Wednesday. We will be waiting for official word from the Assembly Speaker and Senate President pro Tem regarding who the conferees will be and then we will give you instructions on how to contact these key legislators from each house. READ MORE !