BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1609
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1609 (Blumenfield)
As Amended August 10, 2010
2/3 vote. Urgency
SUMMARY : AB 1609 is the spending plan that reflects the actions taken
in the 2010-11 Budget Conference Committee. This bill appropriates
$92.5 billion of State General Fund. Highlights of major program
spending includes:
1)K-12 Education:
AB 1609 includes $52.1 billion for Proposition 98 education funding
and will provide sufficient funding to capture an additional $1.2
billion in new federal education funding for this year. On a
programmatic basis, this will provide schools with the same overall
per-pupil level of spending for K-12 education as in 2009-10. The
total level of Proposition 98 and federal expenditures are $4.9
billion above the Governor's proposed May Revision level of funding
and represents approximately $530 more per pupil in K-12 Education.
2)Higher Education:
AB 1609 includes the restoration of $610 million of cuts to UC and
CSU from 2009-10, as proposed by the Governor. AB 1609 also assumes
no changes or reductions to the Cal Grant program.
3)Child Care and Development:
AB 1609 fully funds child care programs, through Proposition 98, to
ensure working poor parents can remain in the workforce and
thousands of small business child care providers are not put out of
business.
4)Healthy Families:
AB 1609 fully funds the Healthy Families program to enable children
of working families to have access to health care.
5)Medi-Cal:
AB 1609 does not include cuts to programs for legal immigrants who
have played by the rules, and funding for critical family planning
funds which receive a 9-to-1 federal match. This bill also reflects
the rejection of numerous eligibility cuts, rate reductions, and
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co-pays to Medi-Cal proposed in the May Revision.
6)Adult Day Health Care:
AB 1609 funds Adult Day Health Care, maintaining this program.
7)County Mental Health funding:
AB 1609 does not assume savings from the shirting of local Mental
Health Realignment funding to fund state obligations in other
programs.
8)Mental Health Special Education:
AB 1609 funds the AB 3632 mandate which ensures that children
continue to receive mental health services that are necessary for
them to fully access public education.
9)Every Woman Counts:
AB 1609 provides the Every Woman Counts program with full funds to
meet the expected demand for breast and cervical cancer screenings.
10)In-Home Supportive Services:
AB 1609 assumes a $250 million General Fund reduction to In-Home
Supportive Services that would be adopted through separate
legislation.
11)CalWORKs:
AB 1609 preserves the CalWORKs program at the 2009-10 level,
continuing the reduction to the Single Allocation.
12)SSI-SSP:
AB 1609 maintains SSI/SSP program without any further cut to grant
levels. The bill also funds the CAPI and CFAP programs.
13) Restoration of Vetoed Programs:
AB 1609 Restores health and human services programs that were vetoed
in the FY 09-10 Budget including:
a) $10 million, for community clinic programs and appropriates $2.5
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million to each of the following programs: Rural Health Services,
Seasonal Migratory Worker, American Indian Clinic, and Expanded
Access to Primary Care;
b) $5 million for Maternal Child and Adolescent Health Programs, and
appropriates $3 million to the Adolescent Family Life Program and $2
million to the Black Infant Health Program;
c) $52.1 million vetoed by the Governor last year to Office of AIDS
programs, including HIV Education and Prevention, Therapeutic
Monitoring, and Counseling and Testing;
d) $80 million ($133 million with federal funds) for child welfare
services that the Governor vetoed upon signing the 2009-10 Budget.
Data from counties regarding the impacts of the 2009-10 reduction
had indicated the loss statewide of more than 500 front-line social
workers who investigate emergency reports of abuse and neglect, help
families stay together or be reunited, and work to find permanent
homes for foster children; and,
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e) $6.4 million for core aging nutrition and support programs,
including the Linkages case management for the frail elderly
program, Alzheimer's Day Care Resource Centers, and the Brown Bag
senior nutrition program. Without this small restoration, all
General Fund would be wiped out for these historically funded
programs that are key pieces in the aging social service safety net.
14)Prison Health:
AB 1609 achieves $820 million in savings primarily by accepting the
Governor's proposal to reduce support for the Prison Receiver's
Medical Services Program to a per inmate medical cost level that is
comparable to other states' correctional health care programs.
15)Early Releases and Low Level Offenders:
AB 1609 does not authorize the early release of prisoners nor
mandate a shift of state inmates to locals.
16)Courts:
AB 1609 provides funding to restore reductions to the courts budget.
This level of funding should provide the courts sufficient
resources to cease the current one-day a month furlough court
closure.
17)Emergency Response Initiative:
AB 1609 assumes $400 million of revenue fund emergency response
activities at the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Cal
EMA and at the local level through the enactment of the Governor's
proposed Emergency Response Initiative in separate legislation.
18)State Parks:
AB 1609 provides $133 million for the State Parks system; this
includes a budget reduction of $7 million in Federal Funds.
19)Federal Funds:
AB 1609 contains control section provisions to allow the State to
accept federal funds to offset state costs.
20)State Employee Compensation:
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AB 1609 assumes $450 million in personnel cost savings and $130
million in Operating Expense and Equipment savings from the adoption
of the Governor's proposed 5% reduction to state agency personnel
budgets. The bill also includes control section language that
captures any savings in employee compensation achieved through
collective bargaining.
COMMENTS : Nothing in this bill raises taxes or invokes Section 8(h)
or Article XVI of the Constitution.
Analysis Prepared by : Christian Griffith / BUDGET / (916) 319-2099
FN: 0006856