An On-time budget?
With just 3 weeks or so until the budget deadline, it looks like there is a decent shot of getting it done:
Brown, Steinberg, Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and a handful of Republicans have been meeting multiple times a day to agree on details about pension changes, a spending cap and regulatory reform.
“I don’t think there are significant sticking points in negotiations,” Steinberg said. “Now, it’s a matter of drafting, finishing negotiations and execution.”
Steinberg hopes to bring a final budget package to a floor vote as early as June 8. He called the spending cap “a more robust rainy day fund” that would use extra revenues to pay off the state’s debt.
On regulatory reform, which likely would include changes to the Environmental Quality Act and other legislation, Steinberg said the group was close to finishing complicated language.
The pension issue, he said, has become easier to deal with because labor unions are concerned about potential ballot measures in Nov. 2012 that would “wipe out” defined-benefit plans. (SacBee)
The three big issues are a rainy day fund/spending cap, regulatory/CEQA reform, and pensions. Note that these aren’t really budget issues, but with the ? issues still outstanding, the Republicans know that this is their only remaining leverage point. Head on over to the SacBee’s page for a short interview with Sen. Steinberg.
Meanwhile, Gov. Brown thinks that he can steal away a few Republican votes for taxes from the GOP’s jealous lover, Grover Norquist. They even had a little back and forth where Grover called Jerry “provincial” and compared him to the Southern governors in the 50s for saying that some guy from the Potomac can’t spook the GOP legislators.
Ahh, good times in Sacramento, huh? With the June 15 deadline coming up, and Steinberg suggesting a June 8 vote, we won’t have to wait too long to see how this all finally plays out.
That school districts would be able to actually know how much the state has budgeted for them before they have to submit their legally binding budgets.
Actually, Grover Norquist is a CROOK !!
He was deply involved in the Jack Abramoff scandals
American Conservative Union (and Grover Norquist) Caught in Pay to Play Scandal
Edited on Fri Jul-17-09 10:16 AM by Earth Bound Misfit
Source: D KOS
Oops.
‘…The guardians of all truth, honor, integrity and Small Town Real American Family Values® got nailed with their hands in the cookie jar. This time, it was about soliciting pay to play between disparate corporate interests on legislation.
The American Conservative Union asked FedEx for a check for $2 million to $3 million in return for the group’s endorsement in a bitter legislative dispute, then flipped and sided with UPS after FedEx refused to pay.
For the $2 million+, ACU offered a range of services that included: “Producing op-eds and articles written by ACU’s Chairman David Keene and / or other members of the ACU’s board of directors. (Note that Mr. Keene writes a weekly column that appears in The Hill.)”
The conservative group’s remarkable demand – black-and-white proof of the longtime Washington practice known as “pay for play” – was contained in a private letter to FedEx that was provided to POLITICO…’
It’s funny that after a scandal, Democrats are usually banished from public life
Republicans are much more indulgent of Criminality and Venality (see: Sen David Vitter and daipers)
Norquist is a CROOK !!!
i would not support this if i was a legislature simply for the reason that socalled regulatory “reform” does not really have anything to do with a balanced budget. maybe we should debate same sex marriage, abortion, etc-they have as much to do with budget issues-getting revenues to equal expenditures as the CEQA & regulations that come with it.
the democratic leadership continues to allow this bad precedent to continue. lines need to be drawn about this. im glad im not a member of the Democratic Party anymore