Edward “Ned” Dolejsi, Executive Director of the California Catholic Conference, issued the following statement in response to the passage of the Budget by the California Legislature yesterday:
“The budget sent to Gov. Brown last night may be a ‘sober’ budget, but it would be wrong to call it a ‘good’ budget. It pays the bills, it provides money for more effective public safety and human service programs at the local level, and there’s some money left over for a rainy day, but for a small, incremental investment, it could have been so much more,” said Dolejsi.
“It provides no money to help naturalize thousands of legal immigrants eligible for US citizenship; it provides nothing new or creative when it comes to using tax policy to help kids receive a better education; and it still forces new teachers to dig deep into their pockets for classroom supplies with no hope of reimbursement.
“Most sadly, though, the budget provides open ended public funding for abortions without giving taxpayers any ‘choice’ regarding using their tax money to directly end the life of unborn children.
“We can do better. Hopefully, after the election is over and lawmakers have a chance to craft a budget based on need, not politics, we’ll have a budget that better responds to the needs of all Californians.”