Republicans started with the premise of funding education at the same level the governor proposes. But, says Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff, rather than big trigger cuts if Brown's tax initiative fails…
Huff: "We solve the problem instead by saying, if we need $50.7 billion for education, we will find that - without any taxes and without the gimmicks. That became our highest priority."
So Republicans are listing ideas that add up to $4.4 billion dollars. About 80 percent of those savings would come from one-time fixes - such as affordable housing funds left over from now-extinct redevelopment agencies and Proposition 63 money intended for mental health programs. State workers would also take a pay cut equivalent to one furlough day a month.
Democrats React
Democratic legislative leaders said they'd only just seen the proposals but Assembly Speaker John Perez said they'll be vetted in the legislature.
Pérez: "The reality is that we always do better when we have multiple sets of options, when we have a competition of ideas."
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg dismissed the ideas as one-time fixes that might not even be possible.
Steinberg: "It feels like a rehash of proposals that didn't get very far before."
Steinberg said he wants to end the state budget deficit once and for all-and the GOP plan won't accomplish that. He said the Governor's tax initiative will.