California Governor Jerry Brown is vowing to veto any attempts to reverse automatic education cuts if his November tax initiative fails. But he also says budget cuts may still be necessary next year even if Proposition 30 passes.
In an interview with Capital Public Radio, Brown insisted California would be far better off if Prop 30 passes – but he wouldn’t rule out future budget cuts.
“We’ve made billions and billions of dollars in cuts. We have virtually eliminated the structural deficit. But even still, with the tax measure, we’ll have to exercise some discipline in the coming year,” said Governor Brown.
And if Prop 30 fails and Democrats send him legislation to reverse the budget’s deep cuts to schools and colleges,
“I will veto any bill that attempts to undo the trigger cuts. We have to balance our budget.”
But David Wolfe with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association says the governor should be willing to cut somewhere else:
“We have a $90 billion budget – more money than any other state in the union. We don’t need to make $6 billion worth of cuts to schools,” explained Wolfe.
Polls show Prop 30 hovering right around 50 percent support.
