BILL ANALYSIS �
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SJR 3|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: SJR 3
Author: Knight (R)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
WITHOUT REFERENCE TO COMMITTEE OR FILE
SUBJECT : Sequestration
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This resolution urges the President and Congress of
the United States to avert federal spending cuts known as
sequestration to, among other reasons, protect the California
and national economies.
ANALYSIS : This resolution makes the following legislative
findings:
1.The impact of a $1.2 trillion across-the-board, forced federal
spending cuts proposed under sequestration will have serious
and deleterious effects on our local, regional, state, and
national economies, and jeopardize hundreds of thousands of
high-wage, high-skill aerospace and other defense-related
jobs, nondefense jobs, and critical social service programs in
education, housing, health care, and other human service
programs throughout the nation.
2.The sequestration spending cuts to over 1,000 government
programs would shrink defense and nondefense discretionary
CONTINUED
SJR 3
Page
2
spending and be devastating to the California and national
economies.
3.Due to our unique combination of geography, cutting edge
technological industries, and manufacturing capabilities,
California is second in the United States for federal defense
spending and provides vital services to our brave men and
women serving in uniform around the world, and a cut to the
defense budget would dramatically reduce the provision of
those services and risk the safety of our troops.
4.Over 2.14 million jobs are projected to be lost in the United
States, including 225,464 jobs lost in California, if the
sequestration cuts are triggered.
5.An estimated $215 billion reduction in the nation's gross
domestic product, including an almost $23 billion reduction in
California's gross state product are projected, if the
sequestration cuts are triggered.
6.A long-term, bipartisan compromise that averts sequestration
will protect the California and national economies and provide
a balanced and thoughtful budget solution.
Background
The Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA) established a 12-member
Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (or "super
committee") charged with reducing the deficit by an additional
$1.2-$1.5 trillion over ten years. The BCA also included a
sequestration hammer should the super committee fail, a
provision intended to "force" the super committee to act.
Despite the threat of sequestration, the super committee failed.
Announcing its inability to reach an agreement on November 21,
2011, the members of the bipartisan committee stated that "after
months of hard work and intense deliberations, we have come to
the conclusion today that it will not be possible to make any
bipartisan agreement available to the public before the
committee's deadline."
SJR 3
Page
3
Therefore, as established in the BCA, sequestration was
triggered when the super committee failed to reach an agreement.
Sequestration generates automatic cuts for each of nine years,
fiscal years 2013-21, totaling $1.2 trillion. Sequestration was
originally scheduled to take effect on January 2, 2013.
However, it was delayed for two months, until March 1, 2013, by
the deal struck on New Year's Eve, called the American Taxpayer
Relief Act of 2012.
Now, without Congressional action to prevent sequestration, the
first round of cuts will take place on March 1, 2013.
The 2013 cuts apply to "discretionary" spending and are divided
between reductions to defense ($500 billion) and non-defense
($700 billion).
FISCAL EFFECT : Fiscal Com.: No
JA:nl 2/22/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
**** END ****