Election Politics:
California Shines

Athough the returns from the election were disappointing on the national level, California was a bright spot. Local 535 members did their best to turn out voters by working telephones and walking precincts, and we made a difference.

Una Paul

Henry Long

Hank Silver

Dave Folgerty and Jane Scantleberry

This next year will be one of the most trying for social services. Elizabeth Hill, the Legislative Analyst, a non-partisan office that reviews budget and other state fiscal issues for the California state legislature, predicted a $6 billion budget deficit for this current fiscal year, July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2003, and a shortfall of over $20 billion for the next fiscal year. Many observers predict it may be even higher unless the economy improves. What will the impact be on state services? To trim $20 billion from a total budget of $80 billion will require the state to cut about 25% of all state-funded programs. The entire focus of the legislature will be on managing the budget cuts, and supporters of social services will have to focus their energy on limiting the damage. Any proposals aimed at improving social services that have an increased cost attached to them will not even be considered.

The governor must present a balanced budget proposal to the legislature on January 10, including any new revenue options. Both the Senate and Assembly leadership have announced plans to convene blue ribbon task forces to review the state’s tax structure and examine options for long-term reform. This will include ways to increase taxes, the structure of the state’s property tax system, and the ability of local governments to raise revenues.

SEIU is planning a strategy based on raising revenue by increasing taxes on large corporations. At the same time there has been a disproportionate increase in executive compensation in relation to workers’ wages, corporations have been paying an ever declining portion of taxes over the last 10 years.

The strategy will be two-fold: make large corporations pay their fair share and don’t shift the tax burden from corporations to working families. According to recent polling by SEIU, a majority of voters believe that corporations pay too little in taxes.

For what it’s worth, California is not alone. The National Center for Children in Poverty found that nearly 80% of states are predicting budget deficits this year.

Local 535’s message will be clear: It does not make sense to cut vital services such as health care, child welfare, education, mental health, and developmental disability programs that are already seriously under-funded. Members are urged to contact elected representatives and the governor to express support for revenue solutions. The contact numbers for legislators can be found at: www.governor.ca.gov; www.sen.ca.gov; www.assembly.ca.gov.