Schwartzenegger budget cuts funding for elder abuse prevention

California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger used his line-item veto to cut afunding increase of $12 million to Adult Protective Services, astatewide program to protect elder and dependent adults from physicalabuse and neglect and financial abuse.  “I know that this was atough budget year, but I cannot believe that the governor chose toabandon the elderly and the disabled,” Lee Collins, director of the SanLuis Obispo County Department of Social Services, said in a statement.  County APS investigators respond to 70 reports of abuse a month—up 45 percent from a year ago, according to Collins.

Tax breaks for wealthy ranchers remained intact, however.

Source:  San Luis Obispo dot com, http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/126005.html