Gov. Gavin Newsom issued his May Revise on Friday, a budget update that “cuts spending, makes government leaner, and preserves core services without new taxes on hardworking Californians,” according to a release from the governor’s office.
Local legislators offered reactions that ranged from calling for cautious concern regarding the need to cut more than $17 billion from the deficit, to calling the budget a series of “tricks and gimmicks” that kick the proverbial can down the road.
Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, said Newsom is “in denial” with a spending plan that “ignores some ugly truths,” a situation said is sadly the “California Way,” in an emailed statement from spokesman Nick VaVerka.
“The governor is still in denial about the fiscal cliff we’re falling off of — it’s a $73 billion deficit.
“A $28 billion deficit this year, a $28 billion deficit next year, plus an additional $17 billion in accounting tricks and gimmicks used to try and delay the inevitable,” he wrote.
Wilk also took a shot at the governor for delaying his State of the State address, which he said has been postponed nearly two months — a chance for Newsom to be honest about homelessness, crime and the state’s high cost of living, he added.
Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth, described a sort of wait-and-see approach in terms of making sure the state doesn’t “balance the budget on the backs of Californians who need our help most.”
She also said she appreciated a first draft of the budget in January, because “no cuts were proposed to behavioral health services” and it preserved health care services, she wrote in a statement shared by Hugh Bower, her chief of staff.
She offered a differing perspective on what Wilk referred to as “gimmicks.”
“Since then, we have taken the budget deficit very seriously, with early action to make $17 billion in smart cuts that impact our community the least,” she added. “We have fought to ensure those who are struggling to get by get the support and services they need.”
The offices for Assemblyman Tom Lackey, D-Palmdale, and Sen. Henry Stern, D-Calabasas, who also represent portions of the SCV, did not issue statements Friday in response to the governor’s budget update.
