Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed state budget elicited dismay and outrage Friday from a wide array of elected officials and advocates for students, the poor and the disabled, who stand to bear the brunt of proposed cuts.  
"We're shocked and appalled at the fact that, once again, the governor has chosen to balance his budget on the most vulnerable Californians," said Vanessa Aramayo, executive director of the California Partnership and co-chair of the Health and Human Service Network of California, both coalitions of community organizations that advocate on behalf of the poor.
 
Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe said his frustration was "at the highest level" because the governor has decided to adopt "slash-and-burn kinds of fixes."
 
Brown on Thursday unveiled a budget proposal to balance a deficit of $9.2 billion projected for the remainder of this fiscal year and all of fiscal year 2012-2013, which begins in July.
 
The spending plan calls for $4.2 billion in cuts to safety net programs such as Medi-Cal, which provides health care to the poor.
 
Also slated for cuts is CalWORKS, the state's welfare-to-work program.
 
In announcing the budget Thursday, Brown conceded that it was not ideal. And he acknowledged that it could be even worse if voters reject a series of tax increases he has proposed.

"We're making some very painful reductions," the governor said at his Sacramento news conference. "This is not nice stuff."
 
But state officials said the steep cuts were necessary because tax revenue was coming in lower than expected when the current year's budget was written.
 
Frank Mecca, executive director of the County Welfare Directors Association of California, said reducing families' time for receiving CalWORKS assistance from 48 months to just 24 will be "devastating ... particularly when jobs simply don't exist in California."
 
"The value of CalWORKS has become even more apparent during this economic crisis and now is the time to ensure the only program standing between children and abject poverty is shored up, not further sliced."
 
Los Angeles County assistant chief executive officer Ryan Alsop, meanwhile, questioned the wisdom of slashing funds for In-Home Supportive Services, which allows the disabled to receive care from family members at home and avoid going to more expensive convalescent homes and similar facilities.
 
"I don't think it makes sense," he said. "IHSS is a cost-efficient way to provide care."
In Los Angeles County, 179,000 families depend on CalWORKS while 105,000 people rely on IHSS.
 
Their benefits would be slashed under the proposed spending plan.
 
The governor also sought to slash funding for the Healthy Families program, which serves 875,000 children in families without health insurance but whose incomes are not low enough to qualify for Medi-Cal.
 
Dr. James Hay, president of the California Medical Association, said this "would undoubtedly ensure that those kids now have a harder time getting access to care."
 
The governor's strategy for closing the deficit required not only budget cuts but also an increase in revenue through a ballot measure he hopes voters will approve in November.
 
The initiative seeks to impose a temporary half-cent increase in the sales tax and a temporary increase in the income tax rates for persons earning more than $250,000.
 
It would also amend the state Constitution to guarantee that counties will continue to receive funding to take over the state's responsibility for jailing and supervising the parole of low-level offenders.
 
If the ballot measure is defeated, the state would respond by cutting $4.8 billion from public school funds and $200 million each from California's public university systems.
 
Budgets would also be slashed for courts and firefighting services, and state beaches would have to do without lifeguards.
 
Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy noted the district has already endured $2.3 billion in cuts from the state since 2008-2009.
 
"After four years of relentless reductions in programs and staff, we're now at the edge of the cliff," he said. "The next step is a wholesale loss of critical programs."
 
"What's even worse is that these cuts trample on the fundamental right of all youth in our society to receive a quality education," he added. "That they come at a time when we are achieving significant gains in test scores across LAUSD makes them that much harder to accept."
 
Los Angeles County Chief Executive Officer William Fujioka said he is worried voters will refuse to impose additional taxes on themselves.
 
"In these very difficult times, it might be hard for the general public to embrace and that will create additional cuts," he said.
 
Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, a Democrat, agreed the cuts would be painful but pointed out that Brown inherited the budget crisis from previous administrations.
 
"I think this governor is trying to make a sincere effort in balancing the budget," he said. "I don't think anybody's going to like it but what I do think is responsible about it is that it balances the budget with both revenues and cuts."

"The impacts are going to be very profound on people who can least afford it, people whose very subsistence is going to be jeopardized by these cuts," he said. "It's a horrific situation, but it didn't start with this governor. This governor inherited a problem that is a product of almost a decade of fiscal mismanagement at the state level."