The state will ask the Legislature to approve a proposed cut of
$149 million from state services, including one of over $24 million
to university outreach, according to a letter from the office of
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer.
The letter was sent late Wednesday afternoon to a lawyer
representing University of California students in a lawsuit against
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over the midyear cuts. Part of the
lawsuit alleges that the governor overstepped his powers by taking
unilateral measures that resulted in the cuts.
In the letter, a representative for the attorney general said
the state controller will not make the $149 million in budget cuts
the governor requested and that the Legislature would decide on the
cuts.
Warrington Parker, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs,
requested that Lockyer clarify the status of the midyear cuts, as
he had heard conflicting accounts as to whether the state would be
making them.
Parker said he was pleased to see the state Legislature will
review the proposed cuts and considered it at least a partial
victory for the plaintiffs.
But Lockyer’s representative’s letter leaves the
lawsuit in limbo, as one of its central points is the claim that
the Legislature had not voted on the budget cuts.
“We haven’t discussed whether we will go forward and
file an action in a superior court,” Parker said.
Liz Geyer, the executive director of UC Student Association, has
said if the Legislature considered the midyear cuts, it would
probably change the nature of the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, which was filed in part by the UCSA in January,
alleges the governor acted improperly when he repealed the vehicle
license fee by executive order shortly after he took office.
To compensate cities and counties that stood to benefit from the
vehicle license fee, the Schwarzenegger administration made the
$149 million in cuts to education, health and other services.
The cuts would badly cripple funding to UC educational outreach
programs and wipe out funding to the UC’s labor
institutes.
The state Supreme Court declined to hear the case in
mid-February but said the plaintiffs could take their case to a
lower court.
Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the Equal Justice
Society, Californians for Justice, and individual students
concerned about decreases in outreach funding.