HECTOR AMEZCUA / hamezcua@sacbee.com

Gov. Jerry Brown signs the state budget Thursday, flanked by Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, D-Los Angeles, left, and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, at the state Capitol.

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California's $85.9 billion budget: Here are the major provisions

Published: Friday, Jul. 1, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 3A
Last Modified: Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 - 8:16 pm

After a veto fight with his own party and unresolved differences with Republicans, Gov. Jerry Brown signed an on-time $85.9 billion spending plan Thursday that slashes higher education and the safety net while counting on a windfall of tax revenues.

Democrats approved the plan using new majority-vote budget powers.

The plan "really does put our fiscal house into much better shape," Brown said as he signed the main budget bill. "But we're not finished."

What follows are major provisions in the plan:

TOTAL GENERAL FUND BUDGET: $85.9 billion

Health and Human Services:

MEDI-CAL

• Co-payment requirements. Starting Nov. 1, patients will be required to pay $5 on doctor visits and $50 on emergency room visits. Also imposes co-pays on prescription drugs and hospital stays. Saves $511 million.

• Eliminates Adult Day Health Care on Sept. 1, but provides transition funding equal to half the ADHC budget. Saves $85 million.

• Makes a 10 percent cut in payments to providers, such as doctors, pharmacies and hospitals. Started June 1. Saves $623 million.

• Imposes a soft cap of seven doctor visits and a $1,510 limit on hearing aids starting Oct. 1. Saves $41 million.

HEALTHY FAMILIES

• Starting Oct. 1, increases premiums for families from 150 percent to 250 percent of federal poverty level. Saves $23 million.

• Increases co-payments for emergency room visits and inpatient care. Saves $5 million.

DEVELOPMENTAL SERVICES

• Cuts $582 million over two-year period, partly by installing cost-containment procedures and oversight.

MENTAL HEALTH

• Takes $861 million from a fund for county mental health programs and uses it for state mental health costs.

CalWORKs

• Effective today, reduces time limit from 60 months to 48 months. Saves $103 million.

• Reduces monthly cash grants by 8 percent. Saves $314 million.

• Reduces eligibility by counting more work income for qualifying purposes. Saves $83 million.

• Cuts child care and employment services. Saves $369 million.

IN-HOME SUPPORTIVE SERVICES

• Beginning today, requires recipients to obtain medical certification. Saves $67 million.

• Assumes more federal funds. Saves $128 million.

• Installs medication-dispensing machines in homes. Saves $140 million.

SSI/SSP (effective today)

• Reduces grants for low-income elderly and disabled by $15 per month. Saves $178 million.

Education

UNIVERSITIES

• Cuts $650 million for University of California

• Cuts $650 million for California State University. Chancellor Charles Reed announced Thursday he will ask CSU trustees to vote on a 12 percent tuition increase, on top of a 10 percent hike set to take effect this fall.

CAL GRANTS

• Saves $100 million with stricter verification requirements for renewal

COMMUNITY COLLEGES

• Cuts $400 million, offset partly by a $10 per unit fee increase that generates $110 million.

K-12 SCHOOLS

• Provides same program funding as in 2010-11. State could owe $2.1 billion in the future if voters do not raise taxes by November 2012. School advocates consider this $2.1 billion a cut from what they are constitutionally owed.

PRESCHOOL

• Cuts $62 million by imposing stricter income eligibility and reducing provider payments.

CHILD CARE

• Cuts $180 million by reducing pay to providers and imposing stricter income eligibility.

Other

EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION

• Cuts $471 million via labor contracts and operating efficiencies

CORRECTIONS AND REHABILITATION

• Cuts $246 million from prison medical-care budget

• Cuts $101 million through rehabilitation restructuring

COURTS

• Cuts $350 million

• Takes $310 million from court construction

STATE MANDATES

• Saves $327 million by suspending most state mandates for local governments and schools and deferring repayment on costs incurred before 2004-05.

TRANSPORTATION

• Saves $1.1 billion through a tax shift that uses vehicle weight fees to pay off debt

REVENUE

• Raises $900 million with a tax amnesty, a repeal of the refundable child-and-dependent-care tax credit and online sales tax enforcement.

• $2.9 billion in borrowing, fund shifts and other changes

• Counts on $8.3 billion in unexpected revenue growth

• State sales taxes will drop by one cent beginning today.

• Vehicle license fees will drop from 1.15 percent of the value to 0.65 percent.

• Extra $12 fee for vehicle registration.

• Rural property owners will be assessed $150 yearly for fire protection.

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