The state budget passed by the Assembly on June 22 lacks adequate permanent tax relief for the hard-working families of California, grows government at an alarming rate, undermines welfare reform and short-changes Orange County’s transportation and education needs. I am proud that every Republican from Orange County opposed this budget.
The budget did not pass by the June 15 deadline due to a complicated measure that would have increased the car tax, or vehicle license fee. “Anti-manipulation language” would have wiped out scheduled reductions in the vehicle license fee when the state cuts other taxes by more than $100 million.
Republicans made it clear from the start that we would not approve a budget without a guarantee from Democrats that the cuts in the car tax, agreed to in 1998, would continue as scheduled even with additional tax relief granted in this budget. In fact, as far back as January, Gov. Gray Davis was calling for the elimination of the “anti-manipulation language” to guarantee that tax cuts in this budget would not result in an increase in the car tax.
The Legislature could have passed this budget on time, but Democrats decided to play tax-cut “shell games.” Republicans refused to play along. The one-week standoff was beneficial to taxpayers: The issue regarding the “anti-manipulation language” was resolved and the maximum car-tax cuts of 67% will go into effect two years earlier, in 2001.
All Orange County legislators voted for this car tax cut in a “budget trailer” bill.
But all Republicans in the delegation voted against the final $100 billion budget. Here’s why:
Contrary to their claims, the Democrats did not give taxpayers significant permanent tax relief. Excluding the early reduction of the car tax, they provided just $500 million of permanent tax cuts, in a $100 billion budget. We could have granted tax relief of $4 billion and still had $8 billion of surplus funds to feed the insatiable appetite of government.
Orange County will receive nearly $238 million in increased transportation funding under this budget, which incorporated the governor’s plan for distributing those funds. That would seem to be a great accomplishment, but it was 23% less than the $307 million Orange County would have received if the funds were distributed through the existing process under the State Transportation Improvement Plan. In contrast, under the plan adopted in the budget, Los Angeles will receive a 55% increase in funding above what would normally have been distributed through the STIP.
Just over two years ago California enacted significant welfare reform legislation. In the short time since, tens of thousands of Californians have moved from dependency on government handouts to self-sufficiency based upon individual performance. Just as welfare-to-work is really paying off for people leaving welfare for self-sufficiency, liberals in the Legislature are seeking to undo the reforms and return California to the days of expanding welfare rolls.
Democrats in the Legislature are using this budget to multiply the welfare rolls by offering benefits, including childcare, transportation, mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment and employment services to families of four that earn up to $34,100 a year. Democrats also expanded welfare in this budget by extending services provided under CalWorks to individuals convicted of a state or federal felony drug offense. Imagine that,we are now allowing drug felons to receive welfare in California.
Under current law, welfare recipients who do not find employment are required to perform community service in order to continue to receive their grants. The budget encouraged counties to change the payment for community service to a form that would require overtime and vacation pay and allow the welfare recipients to join unions to bargain about the community service projects and pay.
A budget cannot pass without bipartisan support, and this budget did garner some Republican votes due to the commitment of increased resources to public education. Republicans did support the $1.8 billion in increased funding that went to local schools. However, our efforts to equalize the funding to all districts were blocked by Democrats. Because equalization was blocked, Orange County schools will lose out on approximately $40 million next year.
A $100 billion budget is a big deal, but this $100 billion budget was a bad deal.
Campbell, R-Villa Park, is vice chairman of the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
