CA Senate passes Democrats’ budget plan without GOP votes

[stopbush]

Senate Democrats joined their Assembly colleagues this afternoon in using a legislative loophole to pass a budget solution and tax increase without a single Republican vote.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, however, reiterated that he will veto the Democrats’ plan, passed with a simple majority. Typically, budgets and tax increases require a two-thirds majority. With a little more than a third of the State Legislature controlled by Republicans, that means Democrats need some GOP support to get their agenda through.

However, in December, Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, uncovered a loophole that would allow Democrats to increase taxes while decreasing others, so that the net impact is zero.This move allows Democrats to pass a budget and tax increases on a simple majority vote.

The Democrats plan was vetoed by the governor in December, but Democrats have held the idea of a simple majority vote in reserve for a rainy day. And today, they say, it’s pouring. If something isn’t done to address the $24.3 billion budget deficit by the end of tomorrow, the state will begin issuing IOUs.

In an attempt to avoid the IOUs, the Democrats pulled the simple majority card late Sunday, when the Assembly passesd the budget plan.

With the clock ticking, Republicans have rejected the Democrats’ plan because it includes tax increases and it falls short of addressing the entire deficit.

The governor shares the Republicans’ opposition and has repeatedly said - Sunday, today, last week - that he will veto the Democrats’ simple majority plan.

Steinberg, the Senate Leader, concluded the voting this morning by saying he’s still willing to work with the GOP and the governor to craft a full solution to the deficit before the IOUs go out. At 4 pm today, the Senate is scheduled to vote on a budget package that would delay the issuance of IOUs for several weeks. The package was approved in the Assembly last week, but it was previously blocked by Senate Republicans.

The Senate will try to pass it this afternoon, even though the governor has said he’ll veto it.

http://totalbuzz.freedomblogging.com/2009/06/29/state-senate-passes-democrats-budget-plan-without-gop-votes/18289/

[mike_c]

1. interesting times....

I got an email from the CSU today saying that CSU employees will be paid even if the state issues IOUs because our paycheck comes out of money specifically appropriated for education, and the pool exists, even though it has an overall significant shortfall. We've been asked to vote on furloughs amounting to nearly 11 percent pay cuts-- thank god for the union, otherwise we'd get no say-- and the operating budget is dire. But in the short term, at least, we'll continue to get paid with actual money. Lots of hardworking folks won't. That's going to be brutal.

BTW, my sense is that we've been kicked around too many times during the last several years, and with the state's reneging on our last contract raise, I doubt that the vote will go in their favor. I'm hoping for hardball labor action, frankly-- not because that's what I want so much as because we've done everything else. Now it's time to hold the line.

[slackmaster]

2. What a waste of time and effort

I think Steinberg's "loophole" will be found unconstitutional if it ever gets tested.

[GodlessBiker]

3. If the net tax effect is zero, what good is it? There is a huge deficit.