June 30, 2005 (6:15 PM)

 

Well it didn’t happen.  So once again for the fifth straight year our representatives are unable to meet their constitutional requirement by tonight’s midnight deadline.  However the Big 5 is scheduled to meet over the weekend to work out a deal which now removes the governor’s contingency for his “Live within Our Means” provision.   This is an initiative that will be on the special election ballot and is actually not polling well at this time.  Senate Pro Tem, Don Perata, said while leaving the negotiations today, that the differences now are so small as to amount to only “budget dust.”

 

June 30, 2005 (1:45 PM)

 

The Assembly Floor Session to vote on the budget has been going on this morning but about a half hour ago Speaker Fabian Nunez called for decease on debate and announced that Governor Schwarzenegger has called for a Big 5 meeting.  The Senate Floor Session was scheduled to begin today at about 1:00 PM but has now been rescheduled for 4:00 PM.   Most regional centers should be able to operate in the new fiscal year without accessing a line of credit well into September but then shortly after will have to access these loans and begin with interest payments.  He said these payments represent a small portion of operation but nevertheless historically reach about $2 million system wide.

 

A little flavor from today’s Assembly Floor debate

 

Noreen Evans, Human Services Chair (Democrat): We currently serve 340,000 people in our IHSS program and the governor’s proposal would result in 76% of the people who are currently living in their own homes would have to move out into skilled nursing facilities at an 80% cost increase.

 

Jackie Goldberg, Budget Sub #2 Education Financing (Democrat): “We give up.”  We are giving a major concession in the area of education.

 

Russ Bogh, Republican Caucus Chair (Republican): We will not support this budget because it causes a $2 billion out year deficit.

 

Gene Mullen, Budget Sub #1 Health and Human Services (Democrat): He first joked about rep Bonnie Garcia’s remarks about being prepared to work over the weekend with her “slippers under her desk, toothbrush in the drawer, and an extra pair of underwear in her desk.”  Saying it was too much information.  He said he is an optimist and believes this budget will prevail because of sound policy over politics.

 

Loni Hancock, Budget Sub #1 Health and Human Services (Democrat): She talked about In Home Support Services workers and the impact of an impasse on the workers and consumers.  She said this budget is more than compromise it is capitulation.  She said it is only being held up because republicans think it gives them a political advantage – “we now have a tyranny of the minority.”

 

John Beniot, Minority Whip (Republican): He said this bill, SB 77, which is on the floor, is not the mark-up we’re actually considering and it is not even on the floor and only about 8 hours old. 

 

Judy Chu, Appropriations Chair (Democrat): “We have met the governor more than half way.”

 

Ray Haynes, Human Services Committee (Republican): The people who are making money off the government keep bringing their children up here in wheelchairs and keep getting more money without us even asking questions.  He later slightly retracted that comment saying that ‘these people do need our help” but that he blamed those making money off the government.

June 22, 2005

Democrats in the legislature are still saying they’re very close to an agreement and now with the Governor saying that the budget related components of the special election do not have to be part of this year’s budget agreement the Democratic leadership is saying they’re even closer.   Another factor that may bring about an early agreement is the results of the recent all time low approval rating of the governor.  The main message from the governor is that the proposal increases the debt by a couple of billion dollars.  Since no budget proposal is legally allowed to run in deficit these charges are controversial.  However, the nonpartisan LAO says the governor’s budget will result in about 4 billion deficit and the legislature’s budget proposal will result in about 6 billion dollars (give or take).

Budget in apparent stalemate, Sides disagree on how far they are from a deal.

Sacramento Bee June 22, 2005 by Alexa H. Bluth -- Bee Capitol Bureau
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/13107049p-13951759c.html

 

Budget rhetoric hot as deadline nears

Schwarzenegger, Democrats even disagree about how far apart they are on a spending blueprint

San Francisco Chronicle June 22, 2005 by Lynda Gledhill, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/06/22/BAGJ7DCDQB1.DTL

 

Governor, legislators continue to joust over budget
San Diego Union-Tribune June 22, 2005 by Ed Mendel

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050622/news_1n22budget.html

 

Rosy scenarios may not solve state budget crunch, The governor and lawmakers aim for a reality-based solution, although history suggests one will be hard to come by.

The Orange County Register June 22, 2005 by Hanh Kim Quach

http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2005/06/22/sections/region_state/region_state/article_568859.php

June 17, 2005

Things just got a little harder in the assembly for passing the budget.  As reported in the Capitol Morning Report, “Speaker Nuñez told reporters at the luncheon that he has lost two Democratic votes in the Assembly. One is because Asm. Mike Gordon is undergoing treatment for brain cancer. The other is something Nuñez said he found out Wednesday. That is, Asm. Rebecca Cohn will be gone “for several weeks” for back surgery. Cohn’s chief of staff Cris Forsythe confirmed saying surgery is scheduled for June 20 to “address a long suffering back problem recently exacerbated.” He said she’ll be out four to six weeks. “We need 54 for a budget, and [Democrats are] down to 46,” Nuñez said. “You do the math and we’re seven votes short of a budget. Maybe eight.”

June 16, 2005