Don’t Expect a State Budget on Thursday

There simply isn’t the political will to deal with the disastrous effects of Proposition 13 on the state’s revenue and businesses are not paying their fare share of taxes under it because of the infrequent transfers of commercial properties compared with sales of residential housing. We would have a balanced budget now if Arnold hadn't signed $4 billion in tax cuts the day he took office.
But that’s beside the point. The product that the Conference Committee produced is remarkably similar to the Governor’s in its size, reserves, and structural deficit. Dan Weintraub, (the other Dan at the Sacramento Bee) in his excellent column today has some quibbles with the accounting from yesterday’s press conference, but agrees with this assessment.

The Conference Committee has issued its report, with the minority Republicans voting against it in the final vote on the package. There were 290 items considered by the committee, and there were unanimous votes on a number of them. Senator Chesbro, who chaired the committee, stated that the Governor’s Department of Finance was “present for each of the 290 votes we dealt with.” He described the differences with the Republican conferees as “not a huge chasm” and quipped that “I probably could not agree with my mother on 290 votes.”

It’s hard to tell what exactly it is that Republicans want out of this budget. One of their conferees, Assemblymember Rick Keene,is quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle as saying: “Two words—structural deficit….The Democrats are spending too much. They are expanding programs and growing government.” Since the conference committee’s budget spends a little bit less that the Governor’s proposed budget, it is hard to figure that one out.

The Republicans are going to have to figure this out before the budget can pass. They should talk to their own Governor. Let’s hope that it doesn’t take too long and that they don’t use their “weapon of mass obstruction,” the two-thirds vote requirement for this to pass. The majority Democratic votes will be there on Thursday.

Once the budget is passed, we can discuss what the Democrats have done to improve the Governor’s budget in specific areas to meet the needs of Californians. In the meanwhile, if you want to be entertained and further informed, read Lynn Suter’s excellent article which follows in today’s California Progress Report.