854 ADDRESSES AND STATE PAPERS

(Impact of Revenue Estimate on State Programs)

Q. Are you saying cut back, Governor, which means cut back some
of the programs you now have in effect, or not have any new pro-
grams?

A. Well, the budget that I suggested and the final budget adopted
by the Legislature took into account that we would have as much
money as the February 18 revenue estimates indicated we would have,
which means that we have to cut back if we're going to be short to
the tune that it looks like now.

Q. Are you then, Governor, making a study as to what programs
you will cut back?

A. Yes, we're engaged in that right at the present time. Mr. Slicher
has already, as I indicated at my last press conference, put out a notice
to curtail hirings and the purchase of new equipment. These restric-
tions will be continued over into '69. They may have to be more
drastically enforced. They may have to be continued throughout the
entire year. We may have to cut back as much as 15 or 20%.

Q. Where does that leave the Medicaid program? Do you have any
idea at this time?

A. Not at this time. We haven't got enough information to state
where it leaves any program at this moment.

(Reaction to Supreme Court Gun Search Decision)

Q. Governor, what's your opinion of the Supreme Court ruling
yesterday in the stop and frisk law?

A. I was very heartened to see that opinion, because I think some-
times we become so preoccupied with civil liberties as they affect the
individual that we allow the general public — the great mass of law-
abiding people — to be put in an untenable position by our ad-
herence to the exact letter of every constitutional safeguard of a
personal right. I think certainly with the amount of lawlessness that
there is on the streets today and with our desire to cut down crime,
that this is a very effective weapon for the police to have. The aver-
age citizen who may well resent the intrusion on his privacy, if he's
of good motives, I'm sure will realize that this is for his protection
as an individual and not for his embarrassment.

(State Tax Structure)

Q. Governor, the new tax law, I believe, exempts more people than
the old flat rate income tax did and collects 2% from some people