Wilson Submits Signatures for Welfare Initiative

Gov. Pete Wilson submitted more than 1 million signatures Monday in support of his ballot initiative to slash welfare grants, restructure the state’s biggest public assistance program and shift budget powers from the Legislature to the executive branch.

The signatures, most of which were gathered by circulators paid 75 cents for each name they collected, appear to be sufficient to qualify the proposed constitutional amendment for the Nov. 3 ballot.

Wilson’s initiative now seems destined to join several others on the blockbuster November ballot, when voters also appear likely to face decisions on health insurance, education finance, and right-to-die laws. Wilson’s initiative needs 615,958 valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.

But even as the Republican chief executive moves ahead with his ballot measure, the Democratic-controlled Legislature seems prepared to enact some of the most popular parts of his welfare program--leaving Wilson to campaign in the fall for a sharp cut in benefits to the poor and a consolidation of fiscal powers in the governor’s office, neither of which has been showing well in the polls.

The opposition to Wilson’s initiative includes the League of Women Voters and Children NOW, a group that advocates better conditions for the young. Also fighting the ballot measure will be the state’s public employee unions, which fear that Wilson will cut their members’ pay by 5% if he gets the power to do it.

Wilson, speaking to reporters at the office of the Sacramento County registrar of voters, said the welfare cut and the power shift are needed to end what he calls “autopilot” spending by state government.

“Unless we slam on the brakes, we’re headed for a fiscal train wreck,” Wilson said. “The current budget system simply does not work. It is in need of fixing. It is broken.”

The initiative would cut welfare benefits 10% immediately and another 15% after six months for most families that include an able-bodied adult. That would reduce the monthly grant for a mother and two children from $663 today to $507, after the second cut.

The measure also would allow recipients to keep more income before losing their grants, encourage teen-age mothers to stay at home and stay in school, and cap welfare grants so that women who have another child while on welfare do not receive additional benefits. New residents would receive benefits no higher than they were eligible for in their home state for the first 12 months they live in California, under the proposal.

Wilson also is seeking to expand the governor’s authority over the budget.

The measure would limit the time the Legislature has to consider the governor’s budget proposal and allow the governor to declare a fiscal emergency if he has not signed a new budget by the July 1 start of the fiscal year. If the budget was late or the governor determined that it was out of balance by 3% or more, he could order reductions that would take effect in 30 days unless the Legislature, by a two-thirds vote, passed an alternative plan that satisfied the governor.

The initiative also would give Wilson the power to cut employee pay during a fiscal emergency and would suspend salaries and living expenses for lawmakers and the governor if the Legislature failed to pass a budget by the June 15 deadline in the state Constitution.

Suspending the salaries of state officials is the provision Wilson emphasizes most, and the only one he mentioned at his appearance on Monday. Joel Fox, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Foundation and a supporter of the initiative, described the slap at elected officials as a “guaranteed applause line.”

It is also a guaranteed vote-getter, but it is largely symbolic and something the Legislature could pass on its own without too much pain, depriving Wilson of a potent campaign weapon.

Lawmakers also are expected to pass the welfare provision denying higher grants to new residents and may enact the proposal to deny stipends to children born to mothers already on welfare.

A recent survey by pollster Mervin Field found that 83% of the state’s voters favored suspending the pay of legislators when the budget is late. Another 76% supported limiting welfare benefits for new residents, and 58% supported denying higher benefits to poor families that have additional children.

But voters, by a margin of 61% to 34%, were against cutting benefits to balance the budget. By margins of greater than 2 to 1, voters also opposed giving the governor the power to make unilateral budget cuts or to slice the pay of state employees.

“I think the voters are going to turn this down flat in November,” said Democratic Assemblyman Tom Bates of Oakland. “They’re going to see it for what it is: a power grab cloaked in the swaddling clothes of poor children.”

Bates added that he believes the measure will be a galvanizing force prompting the poor to register and vote in record numbers--against the initiative and for Democratic candidates. Such an outpouring could affect the results of several elections, including the vote for the two U. S. Senate seats and the balloting for President.

“I think this is going to go down as Wilson’s biggest political blunder,” Bates said. “It’s going to be a giant millstone around his neck. We should have paid him to put it on the ballot.”

Several other initiatives are expected to appear with Wilson’s measure on the ballot, returning Californians, after a brief respite, to their now-customary role of deciding major policy issues.

In addition to Wilson’s measure, the California Medical Assn. appears likely to qualify an initiative to force every company to provide health insurance for its workers. And another group appears ready to qualify a measure to allow parents to pay private school tuition with vouchers drawn on the public education budget.

Two other measures--one protecting the pensions of state employees from being used to balance the budget, and another involving right-to-die laws--may also be on the ballot.

Governor’s Ballot Initiative

Here are the main points of Gov. Pete Wilson’s proposed November ballot initiative:

Welfare

* Cut welfare benefits 10% immediately and 15% in six months for most families with at least one able-bodied adult.

* Deny welfare grants to children born to mothers already on welfare.

* Limit benefits to the poor during their first 12 months in California.

* Allow welfare recipients to earn more from employment before cutting their benefits.

* Provide financial incentives for teen-age mothers to stay in school and live at home with their parents.

Budget

* Suspend pay and benefits of legislators and the governor when the budget is not passed on time.

* Allow governor to declare a state of emergency when budget is late or he determines that it is 3% or more out of balance.

* During state of emergency, allow governor to cut the pay of state workers by 5% and reduce the budgets of state programs not protected by the Constitution. These reductions would take effect in 30 days unless the Legislature, with a two-thirds vote, passed an alternative and the governor signed it.