SACRAMENTO — A state budget panel Monday rejected some of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's most extreme proposals to close the state's deficit through cuts to government programs as the leaders of the Assembly and Senate announced their own plans for billions of dollars in additional taxes.
The joint legislative committee nixed Schwarzenegger's plans to borrow $1.9 billion from local governments, close adult day-care centers and eliminate a health insurance program for low-income children. The panel voted to shave $70 million from the Healthy Families program that serves those children, but that cut, like most others the members agreed on, was significantly smaller than the governor's.
Committee members also said no to cutting off state funds for roughly 220 parks, proposing to keep them open with a new annual $15-per-vehicle fee on California drivers.
At the same time, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) announced that she wants $1 billion in new taxes on the tobacco and oil industries. And Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said Democrats in his house will push next week to suspend $2 billion in corporate tax breaks that were passed in February but have not yet taken effect.
Both leaders said the revenue from such moves would soften the blow for the state's neediest, who rely on services that will certainly be reduced as the Legislature looks for ways to plug a projected $24.3-billion shortfall.
"Would you rather take 900,000 kids off the healthcare rolls or delay a corporate tax break?" Steinberg said in an Internet question-and-answer session with Californians on Monday evening.
Bass said she expects the Legislature to take "a balanced approach" combining new revenue and service cuts.
"The cuts will be deep and painful," she said, "but we will not eliminate basic safety net programs."
Bass said a 9.9% tax on oil pumped from California land is "absolutely on the table."
Democrats are also eyeing possible tax hikes on tobacco products and liquor, though they did not provide details.
Schwarzenegger and GOP lawmakers, some of whose votes would be needed, have said they would not support new levies to balance the budget.
Schwarzenegger's spokesman, Aaron McLear, said Monday that the governor was not prepared to go along with the proposals to raise taxes or roll back corporate tax breaks, and he said the legislators' efforts at cutting state programs so far have been insufficient.
