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State Senate Hearing Raises Possibility Of Closing UC Campuses

SACRAMENTO (KCBS) – Democrats in the state Senate have made dire predictions about the impacts of an all-cuts budget, this as California Governor Jerry Brown began a statewide tour on Friday in an attempt to pressure Republicans into approving a special election on tax extensions.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, at a hearing on Thursday in Sacramento, legislators even raised the possibility of having to close some University of California campuses to help balance the budget.

KCBS' Anna Duckworth Reports:

Earlier this week, Governor Brown said that relying solely on spending cuts could lead to more than a doubling of UC's undergraduate tuition, pushing it as high as $25,000 a year.

That would give the system the most expensive public universities in the world, something that many students said is both unreasonable and could cause them to leave school.

Republicans have accused Democrats of resorting to scare tactics.

Governor Brown is looking for four Republican votes, two each in both the Assembly and the Senate, to call a special election to allow voters to decide on whether to extend current tax hikes.

(© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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