Governor OKs Budget Hikes for Social Programs

Gov. George Deukmejian, in a move aimed at reducing tensions with the Democrat-controlled Legislature, Thursday agreed to substantial increases in budgets for mental health, youth camps, health services for the poor and nursing programs for the elderly.

Deukmejian disclosed his change in position in announcing how he wants to divide the lion’s share of the $2.5-billion tax windfall that turned up in May as a result of unexpectedly high state income tax receipts.

The development came as the Senate unanimously approved, on a rare 40-0 vote, a $49.7-billion version of the new state budget that included a hotly debated amendment that would virtually wipe out Medi-Cal abortions for poor women. Anti-abortion senators introduced the amendment in spite of repeated rulings by the state Supreme Court that such restrictions are unconstitutional.

Abortion Debate

The fractious debate over abortion contrasted sharply with the general good-humored tone that accompanied easy passage of the the budget proposal. The vote moves the Legislature closer to a Senate-Assembly conference committee that will negotiate the lawmakers’ final budget proposal, which will be sent to the governor. The Senate budget now goes to the Assembly, which is scheduled to vote on its own version Monday.

There was immediate evidence that the governor had reduced tension in the Legislature by offering to spend substantially more money on programs backed strongly by Democrats. Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) told the Senate that in January Deukmejian had “presented us with a bleak budget highlighted by painful reductions in basic programs to people in need. The recent discovery of new, unexpected revenues has changed all that.”

Roberti, who often in the past has collided head-on with Deukmejian, said during the Senate debate that the governor “must be credited with his willingness to work with the leadership of both houses on a bipartisan basis to untangle the complex web” of issues that now stand in the way of fashioning a final budget.

Although numerous points of disagreement still exist between the Republican governor and the Democrat-controlled Legislature, Deukmejian’s budget announcement erased some of the most controversial proposals he made last January when it looked like the state would not collect enough tax revenues to pay all its bills.

The Republican governor last January proposed getting out of the tight squeeze on state finances by making whopping cuts in numerous health and welfare programs. The suggested cuts rankled Republican as well as Democratic lawmakers--and touched off months of demonstrations and furious lobbying by health and welfare interest groups.

Contingent on Agreement

Deukmejian, in his announcement Thursday, made it clear that his latest budget proposals are contingent on agreement being reached on the broader fiscal issues referred to by Roberti. On the bargaining table are proposed changes in the state spending limit, long-term funding for public schools and a 10-year, $18.5-billion transportation improvement program.

The governor, who has already had four sessions with legislative leaders in the last two weeks, plans to meet with top lawmakers from the Assembly and Senate again next week.

Working with the $2.5 billion in expected new revenues, Deukmejian proposed funding for a series of programs he had earlier marked for substantial reductions.

For one thing, he proposed full funding of county juvenile justice programs at a level of $67 million. In January, he had proposed cutting $30.4 million from the juvenile justice programs, a move that local officials warned could lead to the shutdown of highly successful youth camps. Local officials said that if Deukmejian’s cuts went through, an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 delinquent youths either would be transferred to the California Youth Authority, where incarceration is more costly, or released outright.

Major Move

In another major move, Deukmejian proposed an additional allocation of $259 million for health programs serving the working poor. Deukmejian had been criticized for proposing to cut money from health programs for the indigent, then replacing the funds with new tobacco taxes raised by Proposition 99. Critics called the governor’s proposal illegal. Under Deukmejian’s new plan, the $259 million for health care for indigents would be in addition to tobacco tax allocations.

On top of those proposals, Deukmejian said he wants to provide full funding of $350 million for community mental health programs. He had proposed cutting more than $200 million from local mental health programs. He also said on Thursday, in contrast to an earlier position, that he now plans no reduction in the budget for in-home supportive services, a program designed to assist elderly and sick shut-ins with various support services.

Some substantial differences remain between Deukmejian and legislators.

Deukmejian, for example, said in his announcement that he wants $1.45 billion set aside in a reserve fund for unexpected future budget needs. Neither version of the budget coming together in the Assembly and Senate sets aside a fixed amount for the reserve.

And Deukmejian did not back away from his proposal to freeze monthly support payments to welfare recipients and aged, blind and disabled people receiving state aid, a plan sharply criticized by Democrats. That is one of the thorniest issues that remains to be negotiated.

Nevertheless, Assemblyman John Vasconcellos (D-San Jose), chairman of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, called Deukmejian’s turnaround “encouraging.”

Kevin Brett, the governor’s press secretary, said the tax windfall was clearly the leading factor in Deukmejian’s shift in thinking. Brett said Deukmejian had proposed the deep cuts only because the state did not have enough money to cover all its obligations when the governor drafted his original 1989-90 budget in January. “It was out of a sense of necessity that he did it. Conditions clearly have changed,” Brett said.

‘Sense of Frustration’

During the intense Senate debate over abortion funding, Democratic Floor Leader Barry Keene of Benicia noted that anti-abortion legislators had failed to get their way over the years and now “out of a sense of frustration they strike out against poor women.”

Sen. John Doolittle of Rocklin, the GOP caucus chairman, introduced the amendment to eliminate funding for abortions except in cases of rape or incest or when the mother’s life is endangered. “We don’t want abortion used as a method of birth control” at taxpayers’ expense, he said.

The amendment narrowly passed 21 to 19, generating both Democratic and Republican support.