Details are still sketchy and God only knows what's really in all those trailer bills, but leading Democrats and the governor reached agreement on a state budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year that begins in just over a week. There are huge hits to social services -- no surprise there -- but the accord was completed quickly enough in order to allow a new budget to be in place by July 1, assuming lawmakers approve it on Tuesday. Among other things, the budget has a razor-thin, $500 million reserve; moves 880,000 youngsters from the Healthy Families program to Medi-Cal, cuts money for the courts, keeps K-12 education relatively intact and -- on paper, at least -- resolves a $15.7 billion shortfall.
From Marisa Lagos in the Chronicle: "A health insurance program for low-income children will be eliminated and unemployed adults will lose welfare benefits after two years under a budget deal struck by Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic leaders in the Legislature."
"Lawmakers passed the main budget bill last week but had not yet agreed with the governor on some significant details, including cuts to welfare, college assistance grants and child care assistance. Those issues were resolved late Wednesday, and on Thursday the deal was made public."
"Legislative leaders said they will vote on those final budget bills Tuesday."
Here are key provisions of the budget agreement reached by Democratic leaders and the governor, courtesy of the LAT's Anthony York and Chris Megerian.
The abolishment of Healthy Families outraged children's advocates across the state, who said many kids will fall through the cracks as the transition to Medi-Cal goes forward.
From Daniel Weintraub in HealthyCal: "Because Medi-Cal rates are lower than what the state pays in the Healthy Families program, Brown was hoping to save about $64 million next year by cutting rates paid to the managed care plans under Healthy Families in October and then shifting all of the children into Medi-Cal by the middle of 2013."
"But one potential problem with the governor’s proposal is that the managed care plans serving Healthy Families children now might not agree to a 25 percent reduction in their fees that Brown is counting on. That would leave those children without coverage until they could be transitioned into Medi-Cal."
"But even once the affected kids are shifted to Medi-Cal, there might not be enough doctors to serve them. In many counties without managed care where Medi-Cal clients see individual doctors on a fee-for-service basis, there is already a shortage of participating doctors, which makes it difficult for people to get an appointment. Adding still more potential patients to that program could overwhelm it."
Speaking of the budget, cutting the controversial IHSS program may be counter-productive -- for every state dollar chopped, federal and local matching money disappears, too.
From Capitol Weekly's Amy Wong: "But much more than state money is at stake: A potential IHSS reduction in $225 million to the program would have ripple effects."
"IHSS is a state and federal Medicaid program that allows disabled and the elderly to be cared for at home in place of being institutionalized or put in convalescent care. There are currently 425,000 people who receive care-related services from IHSS."
"But IHSS is not just funded by the state, which only cover’s 32.5 percent of the program. Fully half of IHSS is covered by the federal government, while the remaining 17.5 percent is covered by local county governments."
"It’s a three-legged stool: Cut one leg, and the others must be cut proportionately."
In the spectacular Capay Valley, a casino-owning tribe, the Yocha Dehe Indian Nation, is getting into another gamble -- farming.
From the Chronicle's Stacy Finz: "Five years ago, when the Yolo County tribe was looking for ways to invest its considerable wealth from the profits of its Cache Creek Casino and Resort in Brooks, the idea of turning its vast lands into cattle ranges, vineyards, olive orchards and farmland was met with skepticism from many members, who already had an underperforming Ford dealership in Texas they wanted to unload."
"Selling the idea to the rest of the tribe in the beginning was problematic. We are not farmers," McKay says, adding that for thousands of years his people were hunters, gatherers and fishermen."
"But turning 1,389 acres of their property, stretching from Brooks to Rumsey, into the Yocha Dehe Farm and Ranch wasn't just about business. The tribe says it wants to make nice with its neighbors - mostly farmers who see the casino as a blight in their bucolic backyard, what with its spa, 200-room hotel, 18-hole golf course, nine restaurants and entertainment venue."
Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against SEIU in California -- the state's largest public employee union -- on an issue that could have implications for a November ballot initiative targeting labor.
From the Bee's Jon Ortiz: "The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that California's largest state employee union violated the free speech rights of 28,000 so-called "fair-share" nonmembers by coercing them to finance political campaigns in 2005 and 2006.
"Even more broadly, the court's decision hints that it's open to reconsidering unions' long-held practice of forcing employees to opt out of giving them money for political activities instead of opting in."