$14 billion in stable state revenues and $15 billion federal stimulus
 will avoid further cuts to kids, seniors, and families; boost economic recovery

Sacramento, CA – As a new class of legislators begins work amidst unprecedented economic and budget challenges, SEIU California State Council today unveiled A Budget to Rebuild the Middle Class to address California’s $28 billion budget crisis and begin an economic recovery for California’s families after years of devastating state funding cuts.  SEIU’s proposal provides a road map to economic and budget recovery for California, generating $14 billion in fair, sustainable revenues to support the state’s most critical services for children and families through FY 09-10 and target $15 billion in federal dollars to stimulate the state’s stagnant economy.
 
“As a new class of legislators gets to work in Sacramento, our kids, seniors, and working families are still reeling from $16 billion in budget cuts to critical services.  It’s time for our Legislators to rise to the challenge voter’s issued in November and say ‘yes, we can’ protect schools and health care.  We call on the Governor and Legislative leaders to adopt SEIU’s Budget to Rebuild the Middle-Class,” said Jeanine Meyer Rodriguez, Strategic Campaign Director for SEIU California State Council.

SEIU’s Budget to Rebuild the Middle Class will:

Preserve the building blocks of a good, middle-class life for California’s families by protecting health care, education, and the most basic services for those who fall on hard times.

• Protect state and local economies by avoiding further cuts to education, health care, home care, and child care which will deepen the economic crisis.
• Make taxes more fair by ensuring that new revenue comes from those who can afford it, targets luxury and discretionary items, or closes unfair loopholes.
• Target a $15 billion federal stimulus package to provide the support that our families desperately need to begin rebuilding today, and that our economy needs to prosper in the future.

“There are many sources of potential revenue to close the widening budget gap; the ones presented in this proposal are designed to be the most effective while protecting the fragile economy during the current economic downturn,” said Lenny Goldberg, Executive Director, California Tax Reform Association.

The $10.3 billion in state budget cuts already enacted for FY 08-09 have added to the fiscal strain on California’s families, erasing once-secure jobs and forcing unthinkable decisions: seniors forced to decide between food and medicine; schools forced to forego text books or reduce seats on our kids’ classrooms; families forced to choose between working to provide for their children or staying home to care for an elderly parent.

At a rally today the working men and women of SEIU asked the Governor and Legislative Leaders to balance the devastating cuts already made this year with fair revenues and aggressive pursuit of federal assistance.  SEIU’s budget proposal includes a limited expansion of the state’s Vehicle License Fee (VLF), which would protect middle-class families by exempting the first $20,000 in vehicle value; restoration of the upper income tax brackets enacted by Governors Reagan and Wilson, adoption of Governor Schwarzenegger’s oil severance and alcohol tax proposals and the Governor’s proposal to broaden the sales tax to include discretionary services such as entertainment.

SEIU’s proposed federal stimulus package would get our people back to work now and invest in long-term economic success for California families by:

• Increasing the federal match for California healthcare dollars
• Kick-starting hospital retrofits and local government infrastructure projects
• Funding federal special education obligations
• Investing in workforce development and a competitive resurgence by restoring worker training and opening more seats in our public colleges and universities.

“The hard-working men and women of California sent a very clear message in November: we want change, and we want our government to roll up its sleeves and be a strong part of the solution,” said SEIU’s Meyer Rodriguez.  “By adopting SEIU’s Budget to Rebuild California’s Middle Class, our state’s leaders can begin to repair the damage done by devastating budget cuts in recent years and renew confidence in our government and our economy.”

Today’s action comes on the heels of SEIU’s launch of an advertising campaign demanding that elected leaders heed California voters’ call for change.  Saying “small change won’t fill a massive deficit,” the new ads tell legislators that real change means adopting a budget with stable revenue to prevent more cuts to education and health care.