Delivering his final State of the State speech, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger renewed his call for sweeping fiscal reform in the Golden State. That reform has eluded him during his six-years in office, but ever the optimist, the governor intends to continue the fight.

In a joint session with the Senate and Assembly, Governor Schwarzenegger made his top priority for the year the economy and jobs, stressing that California has the high tech and the green tech leadership needed to forge ahead in the 21st century. Fiscal and budget systems, however, are still stuck in the last century said the governor.

While congratulating the legislature for coming together to deal with last year's "budget catastrophe" he warned that this year's deficit - pegged at $20 billion - will mean additional cuts. But he said California's fiscal and budget process forces cruel cuts between the "child who is sick and the child who is poor" and urged this be changed.

(Read the statement of the California Bishops on last year's budget crisis.)

He also questioned the staggering growth in pension plan costs and why the state spends more on prisons than on higher education. He called for greater assistance from the Federal government especially in dealing with immigration and health care reform.

Commentary by Steve Pehanich, Director of Advocacy and Education

California’s seemingly never-ending budget crisis has finally come to pulling the rug out from under women, children, the blind and the aged.

It’s because instead of coming together to deal with a financial crisis created by a history of smoke-and-mirrors budgeting and the worst recession since the Depression, the two parties are stuck in their same old, tired ways.

This inability of the parties to deal with each other through hard but honest negotiations is not new.  It led to the passage of Proposition 13, which dealt with an out-of-control situation that the legislature failed to address. 

2009 Budget Debate:
Bishops Call for Protection of the Poor, Real Reform

The president of the California Catholic Conference, Bishop Stephen Blaire, Diocese of Stockton, called on lawmakers to give top priority during budget deliberations to those who cannot help themselves.  The statement of the California Bishops was introduced at a press conference on Thursday at the Sacramento Food Bank, in the heart of one of the Capitol’s most impoverished neighborhoods.

“The pain our people feel is real,” said Bishop Blaire. “We see it in the faces of families we meet at parishes throughout our dioceses. We know it intimately from the dedicated work the staff and volunteers at Catholic Charities perform every day, as they offer help and hear the stories of tired, depressed and anxious individuals who have lost their jobs, lost their homes and cannot provide for their children, their families or themselves.”