Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom and Assemblymember Betsy Butler, who is currently representing the 53rd State Assembly District in the South Bay, faced off in a debate Monday night in Brentwood. The two Democratic candidates are vying for the newly-drawn 50th State Assembly District seat, which stretches from Malibu and Agoura Hills to Santa Monica and Hollywood. During the debate, which was hosted by the Brentwood News, Bloom and Butler discussed a variety of topics, ranging from the State budget crisis to funding education. Butler, who was born and raised Sacramento and has lived in West Los Angeles for 30 years, said that the state has already cut $56 billion from the budget but that more cuts may be coming. ‘The California budget only really funds three things: it funds education, it funds corrections and it funds health and human services,’ she said. ‘The budget is clearly balanced toward education; over half of our budget goes toward education.’ Voicing support for Proposition 30 (Gov. Jerry Brown’s income/sales tax initiative), Butler said that ‘If Prop. 30 doesn’t get passed, the day after the elections on November 7, the state will have to cut an additional $9 billion from the budget,’ and this would mean severe cutbacks in areas such as education. Butler said that for her, the top two priorities that the state needs to fund are education and public safety. ‘We are going to have to be more creative about how we fund our priorities in the future,’ she said. ‘Prop. 13 [which passed in 1978 and capped property tax increases at 2 percent] is a very old law that might need to be changed, but we also need to look at things like the carbon market tax. When you pay for what you use, it’s more fair, more balanced and I think you would use your [energy] resources better when we move to that’But mainly [right now] I’m for Prop. 30.’ Called the School and Safety measure, Proposition 30, if passed, would increase the State’s sale tax by a quarter cent for four years and increase personal income tax on annual earnings of more than $250,000 for seven years. The measure would also allocate temporary tax revenues to K-12 schools and community colleges. Also, Prop. 30 would ‘guarantee funding for safety services realigned from state and local governments.’ Bloom, who has lived in the 50th Assembly District for 40 years, said that solving the budget crisis will not be an easy task. ‘What I prefer to look at other than revenue measures is how we are going to rebuild California’s economy? How are we going to move forward from an economy where we are considered by CEOs to be the worst place to do business? How are we going to move forward when we have jobs leaving the state, when what we need is jobs coming to the state?’ The revenue that drives what governments need to get done comes from successful business communities, he said, citing Santa Monica’s thriving economy as an example. ‘We need to get comfortable again with that idea in California. We don’t have to sacrifice our ideals… The rising tide of economic growth will carry the state forward and will benefit our seniors, our children and future generations.’ Bloom said he is committed to working with everyone and across political aisles to ‘make change happen and carry the state forward to success.’ ‘We need to make sure the programs that make California great are funded and that’s all of them,’ Butler said, expressing support for Prop. 30. She noted that if Prop. 38 is passed (and receives more votes than Prop. 30), the money generated from taxes would go toward the State’s debt and then ultimately to education and ‘not the other general funds [such as] corrections and health and human services-type programs. It also starts taxing at a much lower level.’ Called the State Income Tax Increase to Support Education, Proposition 38 would increase state income tax on a sliding scale for those making $7,316 or more, and earmark about 60 percent of revenues to K-12 schools, 30 percent to repaying state debt and 10 percent to early education. After four years, Prop. 38 would allocate about 85 percent of the tax revenue to K-12 schools and not colleges. Bloom argued that there are ‘strengths and weaknesses’ in both of the initiatives. Prop. 30 would put a significant amount of money into critical programs for the state, including education, he said, but voters are a bit skeptical whether those priorities are going to be addressed. ‘There have been years of precedents set when the general fund has been raided to fund things that earlier was not intended,’ Bloom said. ‘Prop. 38 is a very unique measure because it only funds K-12 schools.’ He wishes that the proposition would fund schools across the board up to the university level, but the ‘strength’ of Proposition 38 is that money bypasses Sacramento and is allocated directly to schools. Ultimately, Bloom said he supports both Propositions 38 and 30.
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