from the LA Times:
Lawmakers reject budget fix; state could begin issuing IOUs next week
The core piece of a Democrat-backed package designed to fill the $24-billion gap flops. Last-ditch talks between party leaders and Schwarzenegger expected.By Shane Goldmacher and Patrick McGreevy
5:02 PM PDT, June 24, 2009
Reporting from Sacramento -- Lawmakers today rejected the core of a Democrat-backed plan intended to tame California's $24-billion deficit, even as a top state finance official warned that failure to resolve the budget crisis will force him to begin issuing IOUs next week.
Voting on just one of the 20 bills that make up the spending plan, both houses of the Legislature failed to garner the needed two-thirds vote. The measure did not include the tax increases that form the most controversial part of the package.
The rejection is now likely to push the budgetary dance onto a new stage, with leaders from both parties expected to meet behind closed doors in coming days with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a last-ditch attempt to settle on a solution and keep California from insolvency.
Controller John Chiang applied his own brand of pressure as the two houses met, announcing that he would have to start issuing IOUs instead of checks on July 2 to pay the state's bills if the deficit tug-of-war isn't concluded. Chiang described the state's cash-flow troubles as unlike anything "since the Great Depression," with an expected $2.8-billion shortfall in July that could grow to $6.5 billion by September.
Lawmakers said they were aware of the stakes and the urgency. .........(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-budget25-2009jun25,0,1060005.story