Update: Gov. Jerry Brown budget contains $4.2B in cuts

Gov. Jerry Brown's 2012-13 budget would slash $5.2 billion in public school funding if voters reject the tax increases he is trying to put on the November ballot. Regardless of the tax increases, Brown cuts $4 billion in health and welfare costs, including $1.4 billion in CalWorks welfare costs. Look for further updates and insights here.

UPDATE 6:08 p.m. Education officials scramble to review and decipher Brown's 167-page budget proposal.

The budget hinges on voters passing tax increases Brown wants placed on the November ballot. If the measures are not passed, public school funding would be slashed by $5.2. This would include about $200 million in cuts each to the University of California and the Cal State University systems and $4.8 billion to K-12 education and community colleges.

- Tami Abdollah

UPDATE 6:08 p.m. KPCC's economy blogger Matt DeBord on how Brown's budget makes the case for raising California taxes.

UPDATE 5:29 p.m. Brown's tax proposal would temporarily raise taxes on high-income earners and raise the state sales tax by half a percent. Both tax hikes, scheduled to end within five years, would generate an extra $7 billion for the state.

Brown's budget seeks to not only close the $9.2 billion deficit but to stash a billion dollar cash reserve for the state.

- Julie Small

UPDATE 4:42 p.m. KPCC's Molly Peterson explains how Brown's proposed budget affects California's environmental protection and natural resources.

UPDATE 3:30 p.m. The budget, which says the state faces a $9.2-billion deficit, was inadvertently posted online by the governor's staff Thursday, five days before its official release. The budget paints a rosier picture than the roughly $20 billion deficit originally forecast.

"We've done a lot of cutting, that's the big takeaway from this," Brown told reporters at a hastily called press conference, which was also broadcast live online. "...With the tax program we will eliminate the budget deficit finally after years of kicking the can down the road, and we will begin to pay back the wall of debt."

Here are some of the cuts and changes to save money:

• $946.2 million in cuts to CalWORKs, the state's work-for-welfare program.

• $842.3 million in cuts to Medi-Cal, California's health care program for low to moderate-income Californians.

• $163.8 million in cuts to In-Home Supportive Services.

• $86.9 million in cuts to other health and human services programs.

• $544.4 million in cuts to education funding under Proposition 98.

• $446.9 million in cuts to state-funded child care programs, eliminating 17 percent of available slots.

• $301.7 million in cuts to the Cal Grant student loan program.

• $28 million in other education funding cuts.

• Saving about $1.4 billion by increasing income support to recipients of CalWORKS and subsidized child care who are working, and cutting payments to recipients who are not meeting work requirements.

• Merging service delivery for those who are eligible or both Medi-Cal and Medicare to save an estimated $842 million.

• Repealing or suspending many state mandates on local governments that Brown believes are unnecessary and burdensome, saving $828 million.

• Eliminating supplemental funding for schools associated with the elimination of the sales tax on gasoline and other adjustments to the state's education funding guarantee, for $544 million in cuts.

• Cutting grant amounts for students who attend private institutions and other cuts to the Cal Grant program to save $302 million.

• Eliminating domestic and related In-Home Supportive Services for recipients in shared living arrangements, saving $164 million.

The governor proposed another $5.4 billion in so-called "trigger cuts" that would take effect on Jan. 1, 2013, if voters do not approve his tax initiative on the November ballot. Those additional cuts include:

• An additional $4.8 billion in education funding — up to three weeks of the school year.

• $200 million in cuts each to the University of California and California State University systems.

• $125 million in cuts to state courts.

• $15 million to the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

• $6.6 million in cuts to flood control programs.

ORIGINAL POST 1:15 p.m. Gov. Jerry Brown's announced today he would release the state budget early after a copy of the budget was accidentally posted to the Department of Finance website and it went viral. The L.A. Times reported the budget contained a threat to cut $4.8 billion in cuts to education if the tax increase package Brown proposed does not pass.

The budget announcement will be webcast at the governor's site.

Speaker of the California State Assembly John Perez was speaking to reporters about the budget just before it was released, and said he estimated the budget deficit to be $9.2 billion.

What do you think of the governor's threat to cut schools funding if his tax package isn't accepted?

Audio: KPCC's Julie Small on the budget.