Budget cuts get governor’s OK

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Saturday signed into law $2 billion in government program cuts that will affect schools, doctors for the poor and others in an effort to reduce California’s budget deficit.

The reductions, approved by the Legislature on Friday, came after the governor last month called for emergency action to deal with California’s $14.5-billion budget gap. Schools will lose $506 million that had been given to them in the current year’s budget, and doctors who provide care to the poor under the state’s Medi-Cal program will have their reimbursement rates cut by 10%.

State officials have further narrowed the deficit by pushing some of it into the future. An administrative panel last month approved the governor’s plan to help balance the budget with the sale of $3.3 billion in bonds that had been approved by taxpayers in 2004 but never used.

In coming months, lawmakers will resume deliberations over how to close the rest of the shortfall. “This is only the beginning,” Schwarzenegger said of the budget reductions he signed into law. “I have faith the legislators will understand the serious problem that we have.”