The casualties of this budget "solution" will be huge--greater than we can even imagine. Instead of just looking at people as numbers on a balance sheet, the governor and legislature have to recognize that we are all human beings, many with families, working hard to get by.
As a social worker who works with people going through difficult circumstances on a daily basis, I am certain that the proposed state budget cuts would be dreadful.
In 2008, SEIU 721 was the only bargaining unit working for Santa Barbara County that would not agree to cuts and furloughs when first approached by county management.
Assemblywoman Norma Torres is right when she states that cuts to health and human services programs will end up costing the state more money in the long-run because people who are denied care will end up with more serious conditions that incur further - and more expensive - costs.
We need to find a balanced budget solution that includes responsible cuts with new revenues, including joining every other oil-producing state in imposing a tax on profits from the extraction of our state's oil.
Over the last few months, SEIU 721 members have been submitting cost saving and revenue generating ideas to the Simi Valley city manager and council. Since our membership was willing to reduce the city's deficit by $1.1 million in order to save 40 jobs it is only fair that the city really listen to our ideas.
Over 10,000 working families in Ventura County now have affordable medical insurance for their children through a state program called "Healthy Families" but they could be losing that coverage very soon.
Even if I wasn't a nurse in LA County I'd be concerned about health care in this country. More than 60 million Americans have no doctor.
How many private sector folks are getting pay raises in businesses with multimillion-dollar deficits? We are giving pay raises to some of the sheriff's staff while laying off providers of vital health and protective services.
The state budget crisis is already unraveling the fabric of life in California. As a medical case worker for the children's clinic at Edelman Westside Mental Health Center, I'm part of a team that's trying to keep the threads--and families--from breaking.
In the Antelope Valley, where I live and work, jobs are already scarce. Lately, I'm seeing clients who had what they thought were secure decent jobs. They've exhausted unemployment and savings and now they're doing the unthinkable - signing up for public assistance.
California is facing its biggest economic crisis, but the Governor's budget cuts will create an even bigger disaster for our most vulnerable patients.
I'm here in Sacramento with other court employees from across the state to meet with legislators about why closing courts is going to hurt the public. I've worked for the courts for 24 years, but this is the first time I've done something like this.
Everyone in the City of El Monte is working together to preserve and protect city services through the budget crisis that communities everywhere are suffering.
By Marlene Allen I work in the West County GAIN office in Los Angeles County. Over the last six, and even two months, the number...
"California's day of reckoning is here.... The immediate task before us is to cut spending to the money available." - Governor Schwarzenegger By Linda DentThis...
