California budget crisis may reduce state SSI supplement

I received a question relating to my last post about the California SSI monthly amounts for 2009. The question was whether the California supplement will be eliminated as of February 1, 2009.
As you may know, California is in a serious budget crisis. In an article in the L.A. Times on January 17, the paper reported the state controller, John Chiang’s, announcement that his office will suspend 3.7 billion in payments owed to Californians starting February 1, because without a budget, the state has no money to pay its bills. The question I received was whether the California supplemental payment would be cut as of February 1, 2009.   Currently it is not clear whether this will happen.   What is expected to happen is that taxpayer rebates will be frozen and student loans will not be funded.  No mention has been made yet of the State’s  SSI supplemental portion.
People dependent on SSI cannot rest easy.  It appears that even if  we somehow overcome the February 1 deadline.  the State may reduce the supplement.  One of the governor’s budget proposals is that the supplement be reduced from $233.00 a month to $156.00 a month.  This is quite a reduction given the cost of living in California.   For more details about the budget, you may visit the website for the Governor’s proposed budget.
I will keep you posted.