Senator Margett Issues Statement On Governor Schwarzenegger's May Revision
Posted by: Allen Wilson | 05/15/2008 9:58 PM
I just received this message from State Senator Bob Margett relative to yesterday's May Revision:
SACRAMENTO- Senator Bob Margett (R-Glendora) issued the following statements about the Governor's May Revision:
"First and foremost, I am glad to see the Governor has met the Prop 98 minimum and increased education spending beyond his January proposal. I am also pleased to hear the Governor has backed away from releasing felons from prison early, and has found a way to keep our state parks open at a minimal cost to users."
"The May Revise shows the acuteness of our state's fiscal problems and further shows California has spending, not revenue problems. General Fund revenues are slightly more than last year, yet California still has a $17.3 billion shortfall. We must stop using our credit card to balance the budget."
"I agree with the Governor the lottery is an underperforming asset that needs to be modernized. However, the Governor's proposal is full of risk. If voters do not approve the lottery measure, the revenues generated by a one percent sales tax increase are far less than the revenues the Governor is relying on from the lottery to balance the budget. This would leave us right back where we started."
"Additionally, I question the logic in hanging a one percent sales tax increase over the heads of the voters if the lottery proposal is not passed. Such a move borders on blackmail. If the voters don't want to expand and modernize the lottery to bail Sacramento out after years of bad budgeting, then the voters are telling the politicians in Sacramento they must stop overspending."
"Finally, a one percent sales tax increase would have a negative effect on big ticket purchases such as automobiles, the staple funding source after property taxes for many local governments. Past history has shown taking money out of the pockets of Californians when the economy is in decline has a detrimental effect."
My name is Devin Duran. I am eight years old and I go to Evergreen Elementary school in Diamond Bar, California. I will be going into the 4th grade in August. My mom was telling me that you want to take away money from our school and other schools. We need the money so we can continue to do more activities and be able to learn different things. I dont want my teachers to be fired. I learned so much from my teachers and if we didnt have them we wouldn't learn anything. My mom is in the community club at my school and she said we already ask the parents for so much but that isnt enough. I would like to grow up to be a Major League Baseball player and something to do with bugs. I love catching them and observing them. I do let them go. So if you take our money away then maybe the teacher that was suppose help me learn about bugs or baseball will be fired. I think you should listen to the kids. We will be the ones growing up and becoming different things. Like Governor. If you take our money and take away things then we cant learn and we will not be able to be a baseball player, teacher, bug catcher, policemen, firemen or even Governor. I know I am just a kid but I am a kid of the future. Please take money from something else and not the schools or kids. I think you will hurt us in the long run not help. I also have a little brother who is in 1st grade. His name is Aaron Duran. He also wants to be a baseball player. In 1st grade he learned how to tell time, math, spelling, reading, science, history, computers, music and art. He loves to draw. He draws good to. Better than me. He is also on the computer more. He learned how to do different things on the computer at school so he has been on the computer at home more. Maybe he will be the one to cure cancer or be a special effects person. He wont if you take our computer lab away. There are so many things that can affect the kids and if you take one small thing away then maybe you just took away someones dream. I learned cursive writing, geometry, history, science, computers, different cultures, music, art and so many other things. I like that the teachers are able to teach us so many things. I had a great teacher and I learned so much. Please, Please, Please, dont take away the money. We need it more than anyone else. I think you need to help the kids become better people and let them become whatever they want to be. I hope you read this and not someone else. This letter is to the Governor, The Terminator. Please terminate what you are doing and let us have our money and schools and teachers. Thank you for listening and I hope to hear from your soon. I am also sending this to other people as well. I hope you guys are listening. Thanks again.
Devin Duran