A local lawmaker made a proposal to make budget cuts in all branches of government, due to the fiscal restraints at the state and federal levels.
Assemblywoman Blanca Ríos, a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI in Spanish, said blaming the federal government for the state’s economic situation is an easy exit and provides no solution to the issue.
“We must address the challenge altogether and in a coordinated manner, executing public money with a more efficient distribution, which means not impacting important areas like education, health and entrepreneurial support, as well as justice and vulnerable women,” she said. “I applaud the governor’s support for budget cuts.”
The lawmaker said that 96.3 percent of the budget goes to the executive office, while 2.1 percent is spent by the Judiciary Branch and 1.6 percent lies within the Legislature.
However, Ríos underlined the fact that in the last three years the state increased the Executive Officer’s budget by 79 percent and the Controller’s Office 146 percent.
According to the lawmaker all public servants must add to the responsibility represented by generating an increased economic impulse through the appropriate expenditure of funds and making equal cuts in all areas of government by addressing the principle of maximum efficiency.
Ríos requested to apply funds to stimulate the opening of new companies and creating jobs, especially with the implementation of innovative policy by re-appropriating at least 1 percent of budget funds.
“This great challenge transcends ideology, colors and political platforms,” she said. “It must be an effort from all those of us in the three state branches of government.”
Assemblywoman Claudia Agatón, an Ensenada member of the leftist Workers Party, said the state government needs a comprehensive re-engineering process and not only cutting the Legislature’s budget.
Although she expressed her support for an austere policy, this must not be only on the shoulders of the Legislature, but made in a proportionate way among the three branches of government.
She underlined the fact that the Executive Branch spends most of its funds in staff, travel, meetings and discretionary support, many of them dispensable.
“The Legislature’s Re-Engineering must not be used as a submissive tactic of the Legislative Branch by the Governor. We will not tolerate it,” Agatón said. “Let’s reduce the Governor’s expenditures in advertising, staff and his airplane. Most of taxpayers’ money is spent by the Executive Office and the Judiciary Branch.”
According to the lawmaker, most of her National Action Party colleagues are trying to subordinate legislators from other political parties to favor the governor, which would translate into a step back for legislative sovereignty and checks and balances.
