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*
Don’t Reduce the CalWORKS/SSI Grant by 6%. Don’t Suspend the
CalWORKs/SSI Cost of
Living Adjustment (COLA).
- There
are no general fund savings from the cuts.
- CalWORKs
recipients’ income will decrease from an average of $663 to $617
per month if their grant is reduced and an additional $41 if the COLAs
are suspended.
- Over 1
million aged, blind and disabled rely on SSI/SSP for basic subsistence
- SSI recipients’
income will decrease from an average of $757 to $722/month if their
grant is reduced and an additional $22 if the COLAs are suspended. They
are not eligible for food stamps.
*
Don’t reinstate Quarterly Status Reports (QSRs). Don’t reduce
MediCal Eligibility (1931B
Parents)
- Approximately
250,000 working families eligible for Medi-Cal would lose coverage because
of administrative QSR requirements and would be a great bureaucratic
burden for counties.
- The public
health system does not have the capacity to care for people without
Medi-Cal
- Interrupted
health coverage increases overall health costs.
- Reducing
eligibility from 100% of the poverty line to 61% of the poverty line
(making parents whose households earn between $9,000 and $15,000 a year
ineligible) means that approximately 350,000 parents will no longer
be eligible between now and June 2004 and ultimately 700,000.
*Don’t
cut child care for newly working families
- Will
punish families who have successfully moved from welfare to work and
will force many parents who have jobs to go back on welfare.
- 55,000
children in 29,000 families would be affected initially, more as CalWORKs
time limits continue to take effect.
*Realignment:
Could lead to reduced access to safety net programs
- We view
with concern the Governor’s plan to shift funding for state programs
to county governments, including child care, some immigrant programs,
Medi-Cal, and parts of the CalWORKS program. These proposals appear
to create an incentive for counties to make access to these safety net
programs harder, may place a bigger financial burden on counties in
future years, and raise serious questions about the responsibility of
the state to maintain standards for 58 county programs.
*
Revenue: Don’t balance the budget on the backs of poor people, the
wealthy and corporations
must pay their fair share
- Substantial
tax cuts were enacted during the economic boom years of the last decade.
- Cutting
programs and services to the most vulnerable will have long-term impacts
that will end up costing California more.
- We support
the Governor’s proposal to raise the income tax on the top tax
brackets, which would increase revenue by $2.5 billion. The remaining
portions of his tax package are regressive and will further hurt low-income
families.
- We support
other revenue options suggested by the Legislative Analyst’s Office,
such as: eliminating the Manufacturer’s Business Investment Credit
($400 million annual additional revenue), suspending the Research and
Development Credit ($770 million this budget year), and restricting
the Subchapter S Corporation Treatment (between $785 and $1 billion
revenue annually).
- We support
LAO recommendations to free 20,000 prison beds by making minor adjustments
in prison/parole policies for non-violent offenders, which would save
$373.5 million, and legislative efforts (AB 231 and AB 1057) to eliminate
the costly and inefficient fingerprinting of CalWORKS and foodstamp
recipients (saving between $10 and $51 million per year).
- We support
legislative efforts to reinstate the Vehicle License Fee to 1998 levels
($4.7 billion).
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