Overview ∙ Prop 1A would institutionalize more than 10 years of cuts to the CSU with no prospect of ever substantially increasing state funding to the university.
∙ Read the text of 1A for yourself. You will see a proposed Constitutional Amendment filled with complex formulas and convoluted language that was hastily drafted behind closed doors, without public hearings or independent analysis of how it will actually work.
∙ Requires that 3 percent of annual general fund revenue be diverted from the budget and deposited into a “Budget Stabilization Fund” until the BSF balance equals 12.5 percent of general fund revenues – even in a year like this when we are in the depths of a recession and State revenues are falling.
∙ Gives the Governor extraordinary unilateral power over the budget. The Director of Finance – a political appointee of the Governor – makes all the critical decisions determining when revenues are “excessive” and can be diverted into the “rainy day” slush fund, with no checks and balances from the Legislature.
∙ Creates a “Rainy Day Fund” called the Budget Stabilization Fund (BSF) that will ultimately become a slush fund that would allow unlimited borrowing and “pork barrel” spending.
∙ Gives the Governor and Director of Finance unilateral power over the budget allowing for mid-year cuts up.
