California public health officials, workers, and advocates have publicly blasted Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget revision plan, which would result in $300 million in cuts.
These health experts have claimed that these budget cuts would severely hamper their efforts to help California residents, especially as the state combats various infectious disease outbreaks.
Newsom’s Budget Plan
Governor Newsom recently released a budget revision that was designed to deal with a budget shortfall of about $27 billion.
Newsom’s $288 billion budget proposal was made to try to balance the budget. However, many cuts have been proposed, which would impact various industries in California. Job cuts have also been recommended in this plan.
The Biggest Hits
Various aspects of this budget plan have worried many officials in the state. Newsom has suggested the elimination of 10,000 state jobs that are currently vacant to help save money.
However, across the board, certain sectors were hit more than most. Health, housing, and human services programs have mainly taken the biggest hits in proposed budget cuts.
Health Officials Fight Back
Already, state officials around California have publicly chosen to fight back against Newsom’s budget proposal.
Front-line healthcare workers, state health officials, and healthcare advocates in California have warned both legislators and residents that these budget cuts would severely harm their operations.
Fighting Infectious Diseases
Many of these state health experts are worried that the $300 million in proposed cuts could completely ruin their efforts to fight infectious diseases throughout California.
California has continued to have certain infectious disease outbreaks, such as tuberculosis outbreaks. Money has always been set aside to allow these officials to better contain these outbreaks. However, now, officials are saying their fight to combat infectious cases could be harmfully curbed because of this budget proposal.
Stopping Future Pandemics
Health experts in California have also suggested that these budget cuts would hurt the programs put in place to stop future pandemics.
If Newsom’s budget revision is approved, they are worried that the state will once again repeat the incredibly detrimental mistakes that they made when they tried to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Identifying Bio-Terror Attacks
California health officials have also openly discussed the growing worry that a bad actor or foreign adversary could potentially try to harm Americans through a bio-terror attack.
If Newsom receives the budget cuts he’s looking for, health experts have stated that they won’t be able to identify and fight these types of bio-terror attacks.
Federal Worries
California health officials aren’t the only ones worried about potentially deadly bio-terror attacks or problematic infectious disease outbreaks. Earlier this year, the federal Bipartisan Commission on Bio-Defense released a report stating the same thing.
The commission explained that the next pandemic could be even more deadly than the COVID-19 pandemic was.
Why Future Pandemics Could Be Worse
According to this report, a future pandemic could be much worse and more deadly than what we’ve seen thus far for a variety of reasons.
Most notably, the commission has stated that the U.S. is unorganized and not funded correctly to combat another pandemic. Therefore, the entire country — and all of its states — is not prepared.
Bio-Terror Worries
The report also took time to look at the growing threat of bio-terror attacks. As the country remains poorly prepared to deal with bioweapons being used against it, the commission has made many suggestions about what the U.S. could do.
For example, the commission believes that replacing Biowatch, the U.S.’s biological detection system, and creating a new, better technology is essential.
Newsom Receives Backlash
Since announcing his new budget plan, Newsom has faced some backlash from different sectors of California life. Many have grown worried that he will raise taxes, something he’s been vocally against.
“I’m not prepared to increase taxes,” Newsom explained. “We have among the highest tax rates in the United States of America for high-wage earners. We have among the highest tax rates, as I noted, for corporate tax rates … I feel strongly that we have to live within our means, within the framework of being more efficient and more effective.”
The Fight Against Newsom
California health officials and workers will take their fight against Newsom’s budget revision public as they try to encourage lawmakers to vote against the governor’s plan.
To further spotlight their worries, these officials have planned a news conference to explain exactly why they’ve decided to speak out against the governor’s proposed budget cuts.
