Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg says the spending plan is balanced and closes a 16 billion dollar deficit. The breakthrough involved a tradeoff between childcare and welfare cuts … and the Healthy Families program that provides health care for poor children.
"We could reduce the hit on childcare and CalWORKs by agreeing to a shift of kids over time - and in the right way - from the Healthy Families to Medi-Cal," said Steinberg.
Medi-Cal is the state's version of the federal Medicaid program.
Childcare and welfare do still take cuts … as do courts, in-home care, and college financial aid.
The lynchpin of the spending plan remains the governor's November tax measure. If it fails, schools would lose funding equivalent to three weeks of classes.
