Terminator: California Closed.

Gov. Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders staged a 2009 version of Let's Make A Deal on Monday night in Sacramento. The game was played on the backs of students, seniors and the poor, all of whom lost.

From the Los Angeles Times:

The plan has not been formally released. But as outlined by lawmakers and their staffs, it does not include any broad-based tax increases, relying instead on deep cuts in government services, borrowing and accounting maneuvers to wipe out the deficit.

The proposal would reshape some aspects of government in California, significantly scaling back many services that have been offered to residents -- particularly the elderly and the poor -- for years.

Tens of thousands of seniors and children would lose access to healthcare, local governments would sacrifice several billion dollars in state assistance this year and thousands of convicted criminals could serve less time in state prison. Welfare checks would go to fewer residents, state workers would be forced to continue to take unpaid days off and new drilling for oil would be permitted off the Santa Barbara coast.

"We've accomplished a lot in this budget," said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, as he emerged from his office with legislative leaders Monday evening to announce the deal, after an all-day negotiating session of the "big five" -- the governor and legislative leaders.

"It was like a suspense movie, but . . . we have accomplished a lot," Schwarzenegger said. "This is a budget that will have no tax increases, a budget that is cutting spending. . . . We're also very happy that in this budget we make government more efficient."

...Education would lose billions of dollars, although the deal skirts suspension of voter-approved funding guarantees. Schools are expected to have to increase class sizes, lay off teachers and scale back their offerings.

Education lobbyists won a provision that requires the state to ultimately pay back money it is cutting, but districts are struggling now.

...Fees at the state's universities were already raised in anticipation of the deal. The number of students admitted would be reduced by thousands. And university employees are facing unpaid furloughs. They would join California's 230,000-plus state workers who will continue to be forced to take off three unpaid days per month through June 2010.

The furloughs equate to roughly a 14% pay cut for state employees. California's largest public employee union, angered by the furloughs, is currently polling its membership about a strike.

Advocates said the cuts to healthcare and social services would be devastating.

"Millions of Californians will live sicker and die younger as a result of these cuts," said Anthony Wright, executive director of the nonprofit Health Access California. He called the plan a cause for "embarrassment and shame for California."

Work requirements under the state's welfare program would be increased, forcing many recipients to drop out. Emergency cash grants intended for the children of families not meeting those requirements would be eliminated for the first time.

Entire groups of seniors currently eligible to receive healthcare in their homes no longer would be. Those that are eligible would be fingerprinted, an effort to eliminate fraud.

Read more here and here.