State Legislature’s trusted budget analyst is stepping down/ Ayawo Awanyo

Elizabeth Hill, a state budget analyst, announced last Thursday she will step down after the end of the legislative session of this summer. Hill has held this position for more than 22 years and is well known for her sound budget advice. For more than seven years successively, the California budget has been out of balance even in times economy has flourished. Her staff estimates that lawmakers are less concerned about the budget crisis. The administration argues that the plan to recover the budget is sound even if this could not prevent the deficit to increasing from $ 14 billion to $16 billion. Hill’s office points out that the new health plan is less likely to be achieved because the state will run out of money in the following years because the tobacco tax could not generate substantial expected revenue. She believes the following have contributed to increasing the deficit: budgeting by ballot initiative, term limits, and huge expansions of government programs to serve a rapidly growing population.

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