Organizers said they planned to send a petition circulated at the rally to elected representatives in Sacramento on Wednesday.
The governor’s proposed elimination of the Adult Day Health Care program would save nearly $117 million in this coming fiscal year’s state budget and $152.6 million in fiscal year 2010-11.
The cuts would affect 327 centers and more than 36,000 California residents who use the program.
Voters in May overwhelmingly rejected a slate of ballot propositions that would have created an additional $6 billion in revenue to help fund the adult day care program.
Assemblyman Paul Krekorian sent a letter to the Assembly’s Budget Committee chairwoman, Noreen Evans, railing against what he said would be a devastating impact to his district, which has 18 centers and serves 3,928 clients.
Nursing home care would be four times more costly than running the centers, nevermind the loss of local jobs, he said.
The Senate Human Services Committee is scheduled to discuss the governor’s proposed cuts and potential consequences, said Sen. Carol Liu, chairwoman of the committee.
“We don’t print the money and we don’t have the money, so it’s a matter of how much we are going to be cutting out of services, and that, we don’t know yet,” said Liu, whose district includes Burbank and Glendale.
A decision regarding the governor’s proposed cuts will be made before the end of this month, she said.
“Everybody has to make a contribution to the pot . . . and hopefully do something that is not as harmful as shutting everything down,” Liu said.
