“The State Budget: Will a Ballooning Deficit Lead to a Grand Compromise?” will be the subject of “The Maddy Report,” a half-hour public affairs program scheduled to air at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 19, and 4 p.m. Sunday, April 20, on KSEE Channel 24.

Joining Maddy Institute Executive Director Mark Keppler in Sacramento for the TV interview will be two of the “Big 5” governmental leaders who negotiate the state budget – Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly Minority Leader Mike Villines (R-Clovis).

The program also will feature Elizabeth Hill, a non-partisan legislative analyst and one California’s most respected experts on the state budget. The guests will discuss the budget process and key issues being debated that will impact the quality of life in the San Joaquin Valley.

While some analysts suggest California could tally $16 billion or more in debt over the next few years, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently declared a “fiscal emergency.” The governor has proposed a budget that calls for more deficit financing and 10 percent across-the-board cuts that would shrink funding for schools, close state parks, cut payments to the poor and release more than 20,000 non-violent prisoners. That still may not be enough, according to some experts.

Among the issues: How did the state go from a $4.1 billion reserve to a $1.9 billion deficit in less than a year? And what about next year-when experts project an $8 billion deficit?

Don Jackson, Maddy Institute chair, said this and other Maddy Report programs provide the balanced, fact-based and thought-provoking examination of issues facing the region, state and nation that is a goal of the institute.

The Kenneth L. Maddy Institute at California State University, Fresno was established in 1999 by the California Legislature. It honors state Sen. Ken Maddy, whose 28 years of public service was marked by integrity, legislative know-how and bipartisanship.

The Maddy Institute’s mission is to provide non-partisan,
interdisciplinary and fact-driven analysis of public policy issues impacting our region and state. The institute also provides practical training for local officials and civic leaders, fellowships for Fresno State students with local state and federal legislators, and symposia and extension courses on a range of topics relating to public policy and public administration.

For more information about The Kenneth L. Maddy Institute, contact the institute at 559.294.9119 or mkeppler@csufresno.edu.

A podcast of this program will be available online at
www.maddyinstitute.org <http://www.maddyinstitute.org/> .