A pair of lawmakers in the California legislature who represent the Santa Clarita Valley decried parts of Gov. Jerry Brown’s May Budget Revision, saying it breaks promises to voters.

Senator Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, issued a statement condemning what he called a “shell game” in the California Legislature to hide controversial spending policies into the budget without public scrutiny.

“As Governor Brown was scheduled today to release his updated spending plan,” Wilk said in the statement, “the Legislature passed 40 budget bills containing no content — zip, zilch, zero.”

He said a series of empty budget bills were passed specifically so members of the Legislature can add in their own fiscal projects without the public noticing.

“Budget revenues are lower than expected and the governor’s numbers reflect that fact,” Wilk said. “However, with 40 empty budget bills, the majority party can now slip pet projects, controversial spending decisions and a host of other policies into the budget without a hearing or public scrutiny.”

He said the full extent of the damage will be unknown until next month.

“Not until June when the budget is moved to the floor, will we learn how badly behaved the political elites were with the people’s money,” Wilk said. “The best government is government that is transparent and accountable but it looks to me like backroom deals are preferred over transparency to the folks running the show in Sacramento.”

Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, issued his own statement, praising the governor’s plan to pay off future debt but expressing frustration over what he called broken promises about where the money from a tax increase is going.

“California’s economic uncertainty means that we have to be cautious because we never know when the next recession will hit,” Lackey said in his statement. “The Governor is doing the right thing by making a $6 billion down payment on California’s $200 billion of unfunded liabilities. Paying off future debt now is much smarter than creating new programs that inevitably are cut when budgets get tight again.”

However, he said the money from a tobacco tax increase was not being directed where it was promised.

“I am disappointed that the Governor continues to break promises to the California voters who approved the last year’s tobacco tax increase,” Lackey said. “Voters were promised that these tax revenues would be used to pay for health care, dental care and education, yet the Governor’s plan ignores that and redirects it for other purposes.”

He added the budget proposal failed to address concerns about training for law enforcement officials.

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“The latest budget proposal also fails to provide a solution for the underfunded training programs that serve California’s frontline peace officers,” Lackey said. “As crime rates increase, making sure officers have access to training must be a priority for the state.”

Gov. Jerry Brown said his budget was designed with the future in mind, planning for times when the economy is not trending upward.

Under the May Revision, the $5.8 billion revenue shortfall forecast in January is now a $3.3 billion shortfall. Even so, according to Brown, the budget is considerably more constrained than in any year since 2012.

“Over the past four years, we have increased spending by billions of dollars for education, health care, child care and other anti-poverty programs,” he said in a release on the California government website. “In the coming year, I don’t think even more spending will be possible. We have ongoing pressures from Washington and an economic recovery that won’t last forever.”