Governor Vetoes Arts Budget Increase

To the surprise and dismay of the state’s arts community, Gov. George Deukmejian has vetoed his own $1-million budget augmentation proposal for the California Arts Council, leaving the agency with a $14.5-million spending plan for fiscal 1988-89 that is no larger than it was last year.

Signing the budget bill on Friday, the governor blue-penciled $1 million he had recommended for a new council California Challenge Program of grants to be matched exclusively with new private dollars.

“The state has a $2-billion expected shortfall, so naturally there’s going to be some paring” of new programs in particular, said Arts Council Chairman Harvey Stearn, a Republican. “But we are committed to seeing (the challenge program) happen some time, so we’ll try again. It’s just unfortunate that we got so close.”

Last month, confident that the governor would support his own pet project, the council awarded nearly $1 million in the new challenge grants to 42 arts organizations.

“We are sorry for those organizations that were notified as challenge grant winners and who began their fund-raising work to meet the challenge,” said Susan Hoffman, director of the California Confederation of the Arts, the state’s arts advocacy organization. “Also, this is the seventh year we’ve been talking about reaching our goal of $1 per capita by 1990. This is certainly a setback.”

At 51 cents per person, California currently ranks 32nd nationwide in per capita arts funding, according to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. The confederation and the Democratic-controlled Legislature requested a $4-million budget increase this year.

Deukmejian also cut $70,000 for a new council folklorist and funds for a planned council relocation within Sacramento.

In addition, he took away $100,000 that was to be transferred from the council’s administrative budget to its ethnic arts grant programs. That amount represents the salaries of two staff assistants. However, council director Robert Reid said he was “evaluating ways to keep those employees” on the payroll.