SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — $2.4 billion of cuts approved by the legislature and signed by the Governor have been tied up by federal judges, forcing California state officials to consider the wholesale elimination of programs instead of cutbacks to those programs. The state has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review these decisions and recently 22 other states joined California in seeking the flexibility needed to balance budgets. The Governor will announce the May Revision to his budget tomorrow.

“These federal judges are not allowing us to do our job and are forcing states to eliminate programs instead of instituting targeted cuts,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “We appreciate the support of all the other states and expect the U.S. Supreme Court to grant us the flexibility we need to balance our budget.”

The other states that have joined California are Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.