California Budget Crisis Diaries: Day 19 of the budget impasse

Any minute now… :

California lawmakers are expected to reach a budget deal any minute now. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and party leaders, deemed the Big 5, have been meeting nearly every day of the 18 pass days of the budget impasse. Both parties have said that the budget talks are stalled over the education cuts.

Last Friday, California Controller John Chiang told San Diegans education was pretty much a sacred issue. And, he said, he believed the leaders are much further from reaching a deal compared to what they have said in the lime light.

“They are far from an agreement on that issue [education],” Chiang said. “I think they need a lot of work.”

But Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) said, on Sunday night, a budget deal would be made soon.

Team Bass to the left, Team Schwarzenegger to the right: The Big 5 cancelled their Sunday night meeting. Schwarzenegger’s office said they had to postpone the meeting until Monday because Bass couldn’t make it.

But wait, it gets juicer. Bass’ office said she was available - it was Schwarzenegger who wasn’t.

Bass and Schwarzenegger have been highly critical of each other in recent days with the Speaker even boycotting budget talks at one time out of frustration with the Gov.

Keeping Proposition 98: Word on the Capitol street is that the Big 5 may not suspend Proposition 98 after all. The controversial proposal by Schwarzenegger, guarantees a certain amount of funding to

the public education system. In recent days since Schwarzenegger’s proposal, the idea has seen a number of attacks from the California Teachers Association and Democratic leaders.

Workin’ for the state: Friday came as the second furlough day for state employees. Schwarzenegger ordered state employees to take three furlough days a month, a 20 percent salary cut. Employees may see another furlough day though as Schwarzenegger recently said he is considering it to save the state some extra bucks.

And, for state employees not receiving furloughs - they’re probably getting laid-off. Aside from furloughs, the Gov. has proposed making 2,000 more layoffs, adding to the 33,000 who’ve already received their notices.

An unbalanced budget after a balanced budget: Chiang pointed out last week that every budget passed by legislators in recent years have become “unbalanced” immediately after. He notes that legislators pass a budget on old revenue projections rather than taking to account the economic changes.

An example? Chiang said February’s budget was out of balance come April and Schwarzenegger had to submit three May Revises.

Golden garage sale: Want to buy Schwarzenegger’s desk? You may be able to. Schwarzenegger’s office recently tweeted about his office planning a garage sale. That’s right, California items will be up for sale near the end of August, if things go as planned. Even better, Schwarzenegger responded to a suggestion telling the Governor to autograph items to rake in more dollars. Follow Schwarzenegger on Twitter.

They won’t give us the details: So you want the details of the budget package? So sorry, we can’t give them to you…yet. SDNN has received several inquiries from readers about the possible cuts to programs. However, we can only tell you what has been proposed as SDNN and other news networks have not been given the details of cuts, tax increases or borrowing that the Big 5 has already agreed on. We just know it’s the education sector that’s delaying the cuts and that the state owes SDNN’s political editor $6.

Hoa Quach is the SDNN political editor. She can be reached at Politics(a)SDNN.com

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Tags: big 5, california budget battle, california budget mess, california cuts, california deficit, california democrats, california education, california furloughs, california layoffs, california protests, california republicans, california tax increases, darrell steinberg, dennis hollingsworth, karen bass, sam blakesede, Schwarzenegger, SDNN

This entry was posted on Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 10:17 am and is filed under Politics & Government. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.