Budget Woes Fail to Stem Special Funds Requests

Despite warnings that a $2-billion revenue shortage has left the state broke, more than 30 lawmakers lined up Tuesday to make special pleadings to Senate and Assembly budget negotiators for millions of dollars in parks and other projects.

Assemblyman John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara), lead negotiator on a two-house conference committee, began what is expected to be more than a week of deliberations by saying that the committee will have to cut $1 billion from the Legislature’s $45-billion version of the budget to pare it down to the level sought by Gov. George Deukmejian.

Vasconcellos warned that the situation was “horrifying” and could lead to a fiscal “massacre,” but he could do nothing to dissuade the lawmakers from making their requests for special appropriations.

At several points, he interrupted Republican lawmakers to complain that despite their requests for spending increases, they still oppose a tax increase.

“You want to have it your way. No taxes. But you all want your programs,” Vasconcellos told Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), who is seeking $1.4 million to continue a Ventura County mental health program for children.

Requests ran from relatively small ones, such as a $50,000 appropriation for a book on sign language for Spanish-speaking deaf people, to much more expensive ones, such as more than $30 million sought by Los Angeles-area lawmakers for parks projects within the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

Money for the book on sign language was sought by Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles), who said that signing now is taught in English, putting Spanish-speaking deaf people at a disadvantage.

Assemblyman Burt Margolin (D-Los Angeles) revived the fight to find more money for Los Angeles County trauma care centers, saying that the closure of emergency facilities because of financing problems had created a crisis. He and other Los Angeles-area lawmakers hope they can succeed in pushing through an appropriation that would provide an extra $10 million for trauma centers statewide, believing that the county would get the lion’s share of the money.

Other requests by Republican and Democratic lawmakers included pleas for programs that would provide more money for shelters for the homeless, ground water testing, a reforestation project and numerous parkland acquisitions. There were also requests for appropriations for the cleanup of toxic chemical storage tanks, a project to promote high-technology industry and special health programs for the elderly, acquired immune deficiency syndrome patients and nursing home workers.

Vasconcellos and other Democrats would like to solve the budget problem by reviving the $800-million tax and revenue increase proposal that was outlined last month by Deukmejian but then withdrawn because of political opposition. Deukmejian now says that he is absolutely opposed to a tax increase and plans to make up for most of the revenue shortfall with budget cuts.