Back in the day when a
two-thirds vote was required, budget deals used to be cut by what was called
the Big 5 (the four legislative
leaders – majority and minority – and the governor). But now we have a Ménage à Trois with only the two majority leaders and the governor. From the UC perspective, below is what can be gleaned from
the newly-released legislative budget:
University of
California Excerpt (page 38 of budget document)
* Elimination of
Programs Earmarked in UC's Base Budget.
Denies the Governor's January proposal to eliminate state prioritized
programs and reinstates budget bill language with current year funding levels.
* Elimination of
Enrollment Targets. Denies the Governor's January proposal to eliminate the
budget bill language that sets the university's enrollment target for the
budget year.
* Long-Term Funding
Flexibility Proposals. Denies the
Governor's January proposals to provide the university with extensive
flexibility to: 1) create a new "Funding Agreement," and, 2) change
the General Obligation bond payment and Lease Revenue Bond structure that would
have made the budget year the last year in which the university received
funding adjustments. Approve budget bill
language expressing intent to approve future adjustments.
*Funding Augmentation
for the University's Retirement Plan. Approves $51.5 million in General Fund
support to the university and budget bill language specifically to earmark
contributions to the University of California Retirement Plan (UCRP) for state
General Fund and tuition-funded employees, with the recognition that this
funding does not constitute a state obligation to providing funding in future
years and that any future funding, if any, will be determined by the
Legislature.
*Trigger Reductions.
Approves the Governor's May Revise proposal to increase the University of
California's trigger reduction to $250 million, in the event that the November
tax initiative fails passage by voters.
The full legislative proposal for a budget is at:
The general thrust of the legislative budget as far as UC
goes is to drop provisions that relax legislative control of UC activity. Notable in that regard is the negative
language regarding a long-term “funding agreement” which UCOP has been
discussing with the governor and touting to the Regents. The legislature is saying that a deal with
the governor is not a deal with the legislature.
Language related to the pension includes funding which is
earmarked for the pension (apparently a deviation from the governor’s version
which allowed UC to use its allocation for the pension) but reiterates that the
state has no obligation in the future to contribute anything more. Net, this is
an advance on the governor’s version.
The trigger cut of $250 million if the governor’s tax
initiative in November doesn’t pass remains.
Since the legislature and the governor agree on this point, it will be
in the final enacted budget. In theory,
if the initiative doesn’t pass, the legislature could at that time revise the
trigger but the odds of changing the UC cut are slim.
As noted in a prior post, the legislative deadline for
enactment of a budget is Friday. See http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2012/06/june-15.html
for more information.
We'll soon see who in the Ménage à Trois controls the state's money:
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