An Opportunity to Pose Questions and a Solution to Legislators
We have an opportunity to speak out about the issue of proposed cuts to alcohol and drug treatment programs and to put a potential solution in front of legislators. On June 15 at 6:00 PM Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Legislative Budget Conferee Senator Mark Leno will participate in a live Internet discussion on the budget. If enough citizens submit similar questions about the issues, we might be able to get our questions addressed during the discussion and influence these leaders to attend to the needs of alcohol and drug treatment clients.
Some suggested questions are:
- Why do the Governor and some legislators interpret the defeat of Propositions 1A through 1E as a voter rejection of increases in taxes? The defeat of the several propositions would be more accurately interpreted as a rejection of attempts to redirect monies that the voters have already authorized.
- Why are some legislators willing to cut funding for Prop 36 when doing so will only shift the costs to the criminal justice system?
- Over 1.3 million Californian adults and children depend on CalWorks. What will happen to these parents and children if CalWorks funding is eliminated?
- A $ .10 per drink fee would generate almost $1.5 billion in revenue annually. What is the level of support among legislators for this proposal? The Governor has proposed it in the past and over 80% of the public supports it.
Please take a moment to copy and paste these questions into the form you will find at the following link: http://senweb03.senate.ca.gov/focus/townhall/default.htm