Brown Meets With Counties About Shifting Programs
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Gov. Jerry Brown is meeting with county leaders to discuss one possible solution to California's budget problems -- shifting responsibility for a host of programs to local government.
On his first full day on the job Tuesday, Brown met with officials from the California State Association of Counties at the group's capital office.
He says the state bureaucracy that administers programs from welfare to schools has become too centralized, and he wants to shift much of the decision-making and funding to city and county governments.
Association president John Tavaglione (ta-vag-LEE-oh-nee), a Riverside County supervisor, says counties can provide the programs more efficiently if they have fewer restrictions.
He says counties already deliver many of the services, such as foster care, but face burdensome regulations.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
