Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger today issued the following statement in response to the sobering budget update presented by Acting Chief Executive Officer Joseph M. Nicchitta:
“Today, we received a clear and dire update on the financial challenges facing our County. Our budget is under tremendous stress. Temporary measures we’ve relied on this year, such as curtailments, will not be sufficient to maintain essential services in the year ahead.
I want to be clear: the biggest driver of our fiscal crisis is AB 218, the Gonzalez bill. This legislation allows for unlimited sexual abuse lawsuits against the County, creating billions of dollars in long-term financial obligations that will outpace our available resources.
We’ve developed a strategy to manage these settlements through bonds, supported by the County’s strong credit rating and a healthy rainy day fund–which has been successfully used to provide bridge funding in prior years. These are resources I’ve worked hard to protect, but AB 218 is eroding that stability. Without reform to the Gonzalez bill, Los Angeles County faces a fiscal cliff that will directly impact our most vulnerable residents. This weighs heavily on me.”