Voters throughout Sonoma County hit the polls on Tuesday to send a clear message to Sacramento: the Governor’s third attempt at budget reform wasn’t good enough. California citizens voted down everything but Proposition 1F, which will prohibit raises to lawmakers and other state elected officials during deficit years.
As Wednesday dawned, legislators and the Governor are faced with a $21.3 billion deficit.
“Tonight we have heard from the voters and I respect the will of the people who are frustrated with the dysfunction in our budget system,” Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement late Tuesday. “Now we must move forward from this point to begin to address our fiscal crisis with constructive solutions.”
The election results mean that the state’s budget deficit will grow to $21.3 billion, nearly $6 billion above the current $15.4 billion deficit. Schwarzenegger will be forced to make further cuts in already beleaguered state programs.
Other measures voters rejected would have transferred $460 million over the next two years from mental health programs to help close the state deficit; redirected $1.7 billion from children’s programs; borrowed $5 billion from lottery revenue; and deferred $9 billion in monies due the schools.
Here are the vote totals:
