With a successful economy behind him, the governor has been
dropping hints of a state budget proposal that should show a boost
for some key areas. The proposal will be revealed today.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has indicated that Californians will
see an increase in funding in education, health care and
infrastructure development.
Opening a year in which Schwarzenegger will be running for
re-election, he presented a plan for investing in
California’s future in his State of the State Address Jan.
5.
Dubbed the “Strategic Growth Plan for California’s
Future,” the plan is an attempt to take advantage of
California’s potential for economic growth and prepare for
the estimated 30 percent population growth California is expected
to see in the next 20 years.
Schwarzenegger proposed a large investment in infrastructure,
including strengthening and expanding California’s roads,
highways, schools and information systems.
“California is already on the leading edge of global
economy and it’s changing and growing by leaps and bounds.
And yet we will let this advantage slip from our fingers, if we
don’t make the long-term investment in …
infrastructure,” he said in the address.
Also as part of the Growth Plan, Schwarzenegger proposed
allocating money to improve air quality, increase
California’s water supply, strengthen levees and build needed
courts and jails over the next 10 years.
“We have no other choice than to prepare for our
future,” he said.
Thad Kousser, professor of Political Science at UCSD, predicts
the proposal will include an increase in funding for health care
for children of the working poor, in a decision he sees as a
“move back toward the political center or even political left
in California.”
With more spending money due to increased state revenues,
Schwarzenegger also has the opportunity to make amends with some of
those who were unhappy with last year’s budget cuts.
Education was hit hard last year with funding cuts, but this
year the governor has proposed a $4 billion increase in K-12
spending and has asked the legislature to cancel next year’s
scheduled university student fee increase. After years of cuts, the
$4 billion increase “will be the largest increase in funding
in education’s history,” Schwarzenegger said in the
address.
Though there is increased revenue as California enters 2006,
Anderson Forecast Senior Economist Christopher Thornberg said there
still may be bumps ahead.
Instead of riding on the state’s “temporary economic
surge,” Californians should worry about what will
“happen as the year goes on,” Thornberg said.
The state’s economy is being “driven forward by real
estate”, he said, but “real estate will end as a
driver, and California will see new economic problems emerge.
“Schwarzenegger is hoping this won’t happen before
the election,” he said.