When I received this thoughtful response to the Governor’s State of the State Address from longtime FR friend Audra Strickland, I knew that I had to get it up on the blog right away.
To know Audra is to know that she can be very direct and pointed when she feels it is appropriate. In a respectful but firm tone, read how Strickland takes on Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposal to pass a ballot measure to amend the Constitution aimed at cut prison spending and shift that money over to higher education. Strickland makes the case for why, in setting priorities, we do not need to pit public safety needs against the needs of higher education.
Definately worth a read…
During his State of the State address, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said that the one word that he and the legislature should focus on in order to solve our budget crisis is “priorities.” I could not agree with him more.
Listing his top priorities, the Governor compared the portion of the state budget we spend on higher education to that which we spend on prisons. Today, corrections or prison expenditures make up almost 11% of the state budget and only 7.5 percent goes to state colleges and universities.
The Governor pointed out that the disparity in funding shows that our priorities are “out of whack.” As such, Governor Schwarzenegger is proposing a Constitutional Amendment to require spending on higher education to exceed spending on prisons.
Now, no one is pleased that California has more than 170,000 incarcerated criminals. Ideally, if there were fewer criminals, saved funds could go towards higher education, not to mention the benefits to law-abiding citizens and their property.
However, it is wrong to characterize the budget battle as a fight between college students and criminals. If we prioritize, as the Governor recommends to the legislature, we will find many other places in the state budget that take up scarce resources and prevent tax dollars from being used for higher education.
We should first start with state taxpayer paid benefits to illegal immigrants. Recently, the independent Legislative Analysts Office estimated that the state spends upwards of $10 billion on benefits to illegal immigrants. That is 10% of our state budget and considerably more than we spend on higher education.
Rather than a Constitutional Amendment to that pits college students against criminals, we should implement a Constitutional Amendment that eliminates completely any state tax dollars used for benefits to illegal immigrants.
Then there are the many state boards and commissions, where political appointees are paid over $100,000 a year and are required to show up to work only once or twice a month. Let’s get rid of these boondoggles and use the money to reduce college tuition.
Fraud within the welfare system is another item that we must pursue to recoup misused taxpayer dollars. It is unconscionable to use scarce tax dollars on an able-bodied person scamming the system. A pilot program that exists in San Diego County has found that 20% of funds spent on welfare is fraudulently collected by people who do not qualify for the program. If implemented state-wide, as proposed in my bill AB 1193, the state could save as much as $1.5 billion annually. This is a significant amount of money that could be used to keep college tuition affordable.
I don’t agree with Senator Steinberg on too many things but today, in a press conference about the State of the State address, he mentioned that Governor Schwarzenegger truly loves California. Having served my entire Assembly career with the Governor, I know that to be 100% correct.
And what our state needs today, is exactly what the Governor prescribed in his address. We need to prioritize. But we don’t need to choose between educating our children and incarcerating our criminals. There are many places in the budget to make the right choices so that we can do both.
Listing his top priorities, the Governor compared the portion of the state budget we spend on higher education to that which we spend on prisons. Today, corrections or prison expenditures make up almost 11% of the state budget and only 7.5 percent goes to state colleges and universities.
The Governor pointed out that the disparity in funding shows that our priorities are “out of whack.” As such, Governor Schwarzenegger is proposing a Constitutional Amendment to require spending on higher education to exceed spending on prisons.
Now, no one is pleased that California has more than 170,000 incarcerated criminals. Ideally, if there were fewer criminals, saved funds could go towards higher education, not to mention the benefits to law-abiding citizens and their property.
However, it is wrong to characterize the budget battle as a fight between college students and criminals. If we prioritize, as the Governor recommends to the legislature, we will find many other places in the state budget that take up scarce resources and prevent tax dollars from being used for higher education.
We should first start with state taxpayer paid benefits to illegal immigrants. Recently, the independent Legislative Analysts Office estimated that the state spends upwards of $10 billion on benefits to illegal immigrants. That is 10% of our state budget and considerably more than we spend on higher education.
Rather than a Constitutional Amendment to that pits college students against criminals, we should implement a Constitutional Amendment that eliminates completely any state tax dollars used for benefits to illegal immigrants.
Then there are the many state boards and commissions, where political appointees are paid over $100,000 a year and are required to show up to work only once or twice a month. Let’s get rid of these boondoggles and use the money to reduce college tuition.
Fraud within the welfare system is another item that we must pursue to recoup misused taxpayer dollars. It is unconscionable to use scarce tax dollars on an able-bodied person scamming the system. A pilot program that exists in San Diego County has found that 20% of funds spent on welfare is fraudulently collected by people who do not qualify for the program. If implemented state-wide, as proposed in my bill AB 1193, the state could save as much as $1.5 billion annually. This is a significant amount of money that could be used to keep college tuition affordable.
I don’t agree with Senator Steinberg on too many things but today, in a press conference about the State of the State address, he mentioned that Governor Schwarzenegger truly loves California. Having served my entire Assembly career with the Governor, I know that to be 100% correct.
And what our state needs today, is exactly what the Governor prescribed in his address. We need to prioritize. But we don’t need to choose between educating our children and incarcerating our criminals. There are many places in the budget to make the right choices so that we can do both.