Arnold to lawmakers: Hands off my stuff
To close the state's $15-billion budget gap, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger this year cut payments to doctors and hospitals that treat the poor. He eliminated housing subsidies for poor elderly people, more than 300 of whom live on $11,000 a year. He left schools with $3 billion less than they needed to function at the same level as last year. But the governor refused to take a piece out of his own sacred cow: the 2002 initiative he authored creating after-school programs.
As readers of this blog may recall, the Legislature proposed asking the electorate for permission to take the $550 million set aside for the program to help plug the state's troubled finances. It was hard not to read the bill as a dig at the governor, and he took their idea straight to the old circular file, vetoing it very late Tuesday night. Here's his explanation:
As the primary architect of Proposition 49, I have seen first-hand the countless benefits of after-school programs. In 2002, the voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 49 to significantly expand access to after-school programs and this bill would contradict the will of the voters. The voters supported the $550 million continuous appropriation that provides California’s elementary and middle school children with a stable resource for tutoring, homework assistance, and educational enrichment activities, such as music, arts, and physical fitness, while providing working parents with peace of mind that their children are in a safe and nurturing environment.
We note the governor did not have any problem approving other measures that would "contradict the will of the voters," including changing the state's lottery so lawmakers can borrow from its future earnings.
-- Jordan Rau
Photo credit: ETA
