State Budget and Social Services – California

In major cuts, Gov. Jerry Brown slashes services for poor, sick and elderly, By Shane Goldmacher, March 25, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law billions of dollars in budget cuts Thursday that will mean fewer government services, particularly for the old, the poor and the sick. The governor signed the new laws to tackle $11.2 billion of the state’s estimated $26-billion deficit, even as he scrambled to find Republican support for the other half of his budget plan: a ballot measure asking voters’ blessing to renew expiring taxes. Time is running out to place such a measure on the June ballot, he said. State officials will now begin notifying many Californians that their government benefits are to be cut within 90 days – at just about the start of the new budget year. Come July, welfare grants will be reduced by 8%, and parents will be kicked off the rolls after four years instead of the current five…”