GOVERNOR: CALL THE LEGISLATORS BACK TO SACRAMENTO
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger should use his powers to call an immeidate, emergency session of the state legislature to deal with the fact that we have no state budget. It is pretty outrageous that we have 120 legislators that are paid a full-time wage and yet, without a deal worked out on the state’s annual spending plan, and the constitutional deadline for passing a budget now over a month behind us, our legislators are not even in the Capitol? That is outrageous. FR readers should call their Senator and Assemblymembers, and urge them to go back to Sacramento, and to each individually call for the legislature to return to session.
BILL LEONARD ON THE BUDGET
I was emailing with State Board of Equalization Member Bill Leonard, an acknowledged expert on state finances and the budget — he shared these sobering thoughts with me (and said I could pass them along to you):
I talked with folks at the Treasurer’s office today and the bonds outstanding where the state has some liability are even greater than the regularly published numbers. Everybody has forgotten the energy bonds that Davis did which is supposed to be paid back by electric company charges on their customers but the debt’s in the state’s name. That is over and above the Schwarzenegger bonds that are essentially using long term debt to pay state employee salaries.
The other way of looking at the budget is to use the Governor’s own budget. There are so many variables in a budget trying to predict expenditures based on caseload (students, welfare, and prisoners) while also trying to predict the tax returns through June of 2008 that it is a tough job. So the numbers are always wrong and being off by 5% is not unheard of. (5% is now over $5 billion).
From the Governor’s May Revise which I do not believe was changed much by the Nunez-Villines deal: Budget year revenue will (might) be $101,253,000,000 and budget year expenditures are appropriated to be $103,765,000,000. We are spending more than $2 billion than we will have under our own plan before the year starts. Obviously do not try this at home. It is only the carry over reserves that allow the claim of a balanced budget and the reserves are based on the sale of the bonds not prior year revenue.
**There is more – click the link**
August 7th, 2007 at 12:00 am
It is perfectly appropriate for 106 of the 120 lawmakers to take vacation.
After all, they’ve done their
job.
It’s the 14 Republicans who need to go to work – on themselves.
Blowing smoke about a balanced budget can’t obscure the truth. Voter approved Prop 58 requires a balanced budget – which has already been passed by the Assembly and has the support of REPUBLICAN Governor Schwarzenegger.
August 7th, 2007 at 12:00 am
The job of the legislature is to work together to find a budget that can pass through the legislature.
The voters in their infinate wisdom have a constitution that requires a 2/3 vote of each house to enact a budget.
When it became obvious (as it should by now) that this budget does not meet that standard, every legislator should be working to find a new budget that does.
I am still not sure why the Assembly adjourned after passing a budget, without waiting to see if that spending plan would pass the Senate (the Speaker’s European vacation, maybe?). But since there is no budget, all legislators should return.
Senate Republicans have made it clear where they would like to see some modifications in the current proposed budget to get their votes. Fortunately, from the perspective of liberal Democrats, they aren’t asking for much. Yet, what they seek is important.