February 28, 2008

Governor says leg analyst 'unfair'

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today labeled Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill's alternative state budget "unfair" and called on legislators to speed up spending cuts.

Schwarzenegger proposed a 10 percent across-the-board cut in most state spending to offset a budget deficit that Hill pegged at $16 billion for the remainder of this fiscal year and all of the next. But Hill rejected that approach and suggested, instead, that spending cuts should be selective and smaller than Schwarzenegger wants and that $2.7 billion be raised through eliminating or narrowing tax loopholes.

Hill's selective cuts are "an unfair way to go," Schwarzenegger said in a speech to Town Hall Los Angeles while urging lawmakers to move quickly on more spending cuts to speed up their fiscal impact.

"If we have $96 billion that's all we have," Schwarzenegger said, contending that continuing to spend more than the revenue system can produce is "setting yourself up for failure."

Schwarzenegger says he opposes any broad new taxes to close the budget gap while Democratic legislative leaders say they want to balance spending cuts with new revenues.

Posted by Dan Walters on February 28, 2008 9:58 AM