" This editorial seems to be a summary of readers' budget comments, but any such summary that neglects readers' often expressed concern about the costs of immigration, primarily illegal immigration, is a partial summary at best.
It's the elephant in the room. It's also a topic some think may only be broached when there is no more state money. "

" thank you, Cadence. 12 million illegals in CA...love 'em as people, but can't afford to pay for their services since my wages have been driven down to their level... "

" Tobacco taxes were one of many ‘panacea’ taxes to fix everything from health care to public education….and all it did was create another self serving government agency….like the lotto and any number of “Bridge” districts….

The fleecing the tax payers is nearing terminal velocity…. "

" I think Ms. Evans gave the best answer. Uncover the abuse that is going on at her level and make it public to all. Then vote these folks out of office. We have the answer right there given by one of our own legislators. "

" 12 million telebender?...Are telling us nearly one third (our population is about 38 million) of the citizens of California are illegals? I don't think so.

from the NYTimes last year,

The number of illegal immigrants in the country has dropped by as much as 1.3 million in the past year, an 11 percent decline since a historic peak last August, an immigration research group in Washington said in a report released Wednesday....they concluded that the illegal immigrant population had dropped to 11.2 million, from a historic high of 12.5 million in August 2007.

The report, by Steven A. Camarota and Karen Jensenius of the Center for Immigration Studies, found “strong indications” that stepped-up enforcement by immigration authorities had played a major role in the decline. "

" Wow Bill, an interesting take on the comments from the election. your general disregard of cutting waste from the budget was completely ignored although you completely covered the "tax and spenders." "

" Bill Kisliuk's does not mention the cause and effect of 25% of this nations illegal immigrants flocking to CA's liberal mecca. Once we eliminate the cause we eliminate the effect which has been a drain to the CA taxpayer and our economy. "

" 1. Cut all services to Illegal Immigrants. Charge them for every service they receive at market value.

2. Consolidate state services, cut staff, lower salaries.

3. Reduce the state income tax rates by 20%, End the "Death Tax", and drop business taxes by 30%.

4. Move the Legislature to part-time metting every other year.

5. End the retirement Boards and Commissions for the legislators to retire on.


Those five items will put us in the black and keep us there. "

" Bill-

Nothing in your article refers to kick-starting the economic engine. You mention pretty much taxes, fees, gambling, and the states main crop marijuana.

Where is the reform in our government itself? Two Departments of Real Estate, close the Dept. of Education, shred the Bureaucracy. Furloughs, that will be lost with all the overtime. Get rid of the mandatory housing requirements for each county.

Make California a business friendly place and it will flourish. "

" Many blogs I read suggested we stop providing free services to people who are here illegally, yet the editor's review of those responses doesn't even mention it. When will we stop being so squeamish, and tackle this issue?! We've bent over backward to be "politically correct," and our backs are breaking! "

" yup, one third (or maybe it is that the 38 mil count is off, it's done by the feds so it must be right?) it sounds like a racist joke, but how many illegals live in each residence...maybe count the cars & multiply by "X"...choose your own "X" "

" and your 'reliable' source is?...and yeah i do tend to trust the numbers put out by the census department. How many people do you think are in California? "

" raven, are you saying that there are not very many illegals in California? What is your source? Facts please. Real facts. Not faux facts from factcheck or daily koz.

Actually, instead of firing the bureaucrats and closing the duplicate bureaucracies, (one shudders to think of all those unemployed bureaucrats roaming the streets and alleyways) let's do what the Dems say they want to do if they don't get a blank check from us - fire all the police, firemen, and teachers and close all the state parks. We can re-hire them over at the DMV to handle our government health care boondoggle. "

" Update---$24 Billion and counting. "

" How disappointing. It almost seems tounge-in-cheek. I saw "major cultural changes" in the second paragraph and thought that finally someone was going to bring the Elephant to the middle of the room. Bloggers gave their input, but you chose to pretend it wasn't mentioned. Sigh.... "

" wb5218 wrote on May 29, 2009 4:16 PM:

" Update---$24 Billion and counting. "

EXACTLY..............and voting FOR these meausres was supposed to help???

We have legislators with spending out of control programs. They caused this and we helped by voting them into office!! "

" Here are the estimated numbers, and California has at least 1/4 of them, and their children.
www.ppic.org/content/pubs/jtf/JTF_IllegalImmigrantsJTF.pdf :
CALIFORNIA IS HOME TO SEVERAL MILLION UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS.
Although estimates of the undocumented immigrant population are imprecise, the best estimates suggest that California was home to about 2.8 million illegal immigrants in 2006. One‐fourth of the nation’s undocumented immigrants reside in California (about twice the state’s share of the nation’s overall population). In California and Arizona, undocumented immigrants constitute about 8% of the population, the highest concentration of illegal immigrants in the United States.

And
www.ppic.org/content/pubs/atissue/AI_406HJAI.pdf :
California has more illegal immigrants than any other state—an estimated 2.4 million. The California Department of Finance estimates that illegal immigration adds 73,000 people to the state’s population each year, thereby accounting for 12 percent of the state’s population growth this decade.

Study: Number of children born to illegal immigrants jumps
By N.C. Aizenman
THE WASHINGTON POST
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
WASHINGTON — The number of children born to illegal immigrants in the United States has dramatically increased over the past five years, from 2.7 million in 2003 to 4 million in 2008, according to a study released Tuesday.
The report by the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center also found that more than 30 percent of such children, who are automatically granted U.S. citizenship, lived in poverty in 2007, compared with about 18 percent of those born to either legal immigrants or U.S.-born parents. Also, one in four U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants went without health insurance in 2008, compared with 14 percent of those born to legal immigrants and 8 percent born to U.S.-born parents.

This impacts our state in so many ways and I am out of space to number them. "

" Here is my take.
1: Charitable funds:
This is by the individule, Church, or by non-profit organizations. Not by our Government.
2: Prisons:
Do away with prison. Punishments should be fines, horse wippings, or death.
3: Disaster relief:
This should be taken over completly by the Red Cross and not government funded.

There's a good start. "

" PPF, I never said that, but the most reliable numbers available have the estimated total of illegals in the entire country as between 11 and 15 million so the odds that there are 12 million illegals out of a population of about 38 million in California are slim. Read the report I sourced, get it from the original if you don't trust the NY Times.

Sandra's sources seems to be consistent in the estimate with California having about a 1/4 of the illegal immigrants in the country. "

" Only 3 million illegals? Only 10%? "

" oh- I agree.
Who will control the spending? The spenders? "

" My numbers are alarming enough without being exaggerated. Add the illegals children to the figures and it accounts for approxamately 10% of california's population. 10% with no medical insurance, taking restaurant jobs, field jobs, impacting our schools, social services, hospitals.....Crime rings adding to the problem....It all costs the tax payers money. Add to it the incompetent elected officials and this is the result...a state in trouble. "