Holes in Our Humanity

Gov. George Deukmejian painted a glowing picture of California during a television speech last week. In a preview of his final 1985-86 budget actions to come the next morning, the governor boasted of improvements in fiscal affairs, crime-fighting, education and the economy.

He commended the Legislature for its hard work on the budget since January, but acknowledged that the budget was “a little overweight” and would be carefully trimmed with his veto.

Then, envisioning a mystical future, Deukmejian asked, “Is there any greater gift we could leave to our children than to say that in this world of trouble and terror, California is an island of safety and humanity?”

This warm and comforting illusion, unfortunately, was shattered when the cold light of dawn fell on the governor’s $501 million in cuts from a $35-billion budget carefully structured by the Legislature over a six-month period. During that time, the state discovered that it had nearly $900 million more coming in this year in revenues than had been expected. While the Legislature added considerably from that windfall to Deukmejian’s original budget, it still adhered to his guidelines of no new taxes and the maintenance of a $1-billion emergency reserve.

Considerable humanity had been stripped from the budget by the time that Deukmejian was done with it on Friday. He reduced or eliminated virtually every legislative augmentation designed to help California’s less fortunate: $34 million for housing for low-income families, more than half the $48 million added for the homeless mentally ill, $16 million for school meals for the poor, $25 million for hospitals serving the indigent, $7 million in assistance for the victims of AIDS, money for public libraries, and so on.

The governor’s support for education deserves commendation, but he still cut $73 million that the Legislature added for the hard-pressed community colleges that have not shared in the largess of recent years. And he also continued his inexplicable grudge against the California Coastal Commission.

Harsh budgeting is one thing in times of true fiscal hardship, such as Deukmejian’s first year in office. But the humanity of California, one of the factors that made it a great state, stems from its willingness to share its abundance in good times with all its citizens, whether it be for decent hospital care for the poor or access to a beach on a hot summer day. Deukmejian’s final 1985-86 budget falls short of that standard.