So Abel’s tears found a floor, and the deal is now done.  It’s a terrible, terrible deal.  Let’s first focus on what Maldonado got, which is less than meets the eye.

• He got his open primary legislation on the ballot, but not until June 2010.  Arnold was interested in it, and so it was likely to get on that ballot anyway.  This won’t help Maldo in 2010, which was probably a condition of the deal.  Considering that it affects Congressional races as well as legislative ones, I expect Nancy Pelosi to go all in trying to defeat and I don’t expect it to pass.  Open primaries have lost on the ballot in the past.

• The constitutional amendment banning legislative pay increases during deficit years passed; the amendment cutting all legislative pay during a late budget failed.

• The 12-cent gas tax increase was cut, replaced with a slight increase to the state income tax, federal stimulus money (which was always going to fill in because it was more than budgeted for) and $600 million in unspecified line-item vetoes from the Governor, which  are going to be ugly.  Let’s just say that the huge corporate tax cut is not the first place Arnold’s going to look.

Now, that’s what Maldonado got.  Among the other goodies in this budget, besides the corporate tax cuts and the privatization of state highway projects and the rest, are:

• A $10,000 tax credit for homebuyers, but only if they buy new construction.  So a “developer bailout” when there is all kinds of existing inventory sitting on the market and lowering property values inside communities.  And now there’s an incentive for them to stay there.  Great.

• Large commercial vehicles are exempt from the increase in vehicle license fees, because… gee, I have no idea.  This is perverse, the opposite of what we should be taxing, which are inefficient vehicles.

• Rental car companies can pass VLF increases on to customers, which they probably would have done anyway, but this makes it even easier.

• One provision allows for the delay of retrofitting of heavy diesel equipment, which will maintain poor air pollution in at-risk communities, and let’s face it, kill people.  Don’t believe me, take it from the Chairman of the Air Resources Board, Mary Nichols: “There are people who will die because of this delay.”

Dan Weintraub is right – this is a budget the GOP can be proud of, because it’s a profoundly conservative budget.  Because they hold a conservative veto over it.  And they get the best of both worlds – they don’t have to vote for the budget en masse so they don’t have to own it.  In short, the hijacking worked.  And that’s a function of process, not personality.

As Jean Ross says, “If this year’s budget negotiations don’t increase public support for reducing the vote requirement for approval of a budget and tax increases, it is not clear what will.”

…there are two initiatives that have entered circulation that would repeal 2/3 for budget and taxes, and replace it with an arbitrary 55%.  It should be majority rule.  But it’s about to gather signatures.  Budgets and bad policies can eventually be changed if the process is changed.

President Pro Tem Steinberg has brought the Senate into session but there’s no breakthrough to report.  Steinberg had a conversation with Dave Cox, who is seeing lots of his constituents in Sacramento County get pink slips today, and he is encouraged that something will get done today:

“We’re going to get there today,” Steinberg predicted. “I can’t tell you exactly who (will vote for the budget package). We all know who the candidates are. …Today has to be the day.” […]

Steinberg did not elaborate on his meeting with Cox, who was once thought to be the deciding vote but has since said he could not in good conscience vote for the tax increases.

“Dave and I have known each other for almost 20 years, and we have always had a good relationship,” Steinberg said.

On Monday, Steinberg first said he would put up the tax bill at 10 a.m. this morning and keep the roll open — for hours, if necessary — to pressure the final vote.

“There are caucuses and conversations that led me to hold off until noon,” he said.

Anthony Wright and John Myers at Capitol Notes are still Twittering from the chamber.  Myers reports on a talk with the Governor’s press secretary about Abel Maldonado’s ransom note wish list:

McLear: guv willing to look at ways to “augment” budget deal if it gets the 2/3 vote… But won’t comment on specifically adding Sen. Maldonado’s requests… Guv does support, though, both proposals: open primary, legis pay.

I’m more and more convinced that Maldonado is the Governor’s sock puppet.  Arnold has been talking about the same “good government” reforms for quite a while, in particular open primaries.  It’s not that these reforms are completely nutty – no pay for lawmakers without a budget and no legislative pay or per diem raises in bad economic times is fine, I guess – but they are pointless compared to what is needed.  Clearly making Yacht Party lawmakers feel bad or hitting their salaries isn’t going to upend the anti-tax jihad.  And the only definitive outcome of open primaries to this point is a confusingly long ballot and decreased participation, not automatic moderate candidates.  These aren’t germane, and they are just a way to hold up the process to extract more concessions.

You can read the letter that 20,000 state employees got today here.  These are real lives that the Yacht Party is messing with.  And they’re wasting taxpayer dollars by delaying the process in about 10 different ways.

Thanks to everyone around the blogosphere linking to us in the past couple days as we report this out.  In addition, I’ll be on the Bay Area’s KPFA morning show with Aimee Allison tomorrow at 7:00am to discuss the latest.

I’ve been trying to get confirmation on when a special election would take place if and when this horror show of a budget was to get passed.  Well, the actual language in the budget bills (via Around The Capitol) states that the five ballot measures are being scheduled for a May 19, 2009 ballot.  There would be Los Angeles city general election on that date for any seat that doesn’t get a 50% +1 majority in the March 3 primaries, so with that large election already scheduled it makes a bit of sense.  Still, that is fairly soon, and earlier than expected.

You can read and weep at the other bills here – actually 23 of them in the Senate and 22 in the Assembly have to pass to finish this budget deal.

Meanwhile, the New York Times has taken notice of the madness, which means people in LA might actually read about it.

The state of California – its deficits ballooning, its lawmakers intransigent and its governor apparently free of allies or influence – appears headed off the fiscal rails […]

After negotiating nonstop from Saturday afternoon until late Sunday night on a series of budget bills that would have closed a projected $41 billion deficit, state lawmakers failed to get enough votes to close the deal and adjourned. They returned to the capital late Monday morning only to adjourn until the afternoon, though it was far from clear whether they would be able to reach a deal.

California has also lost access to much of the credit markets, nearly unheard of among state municipal bond issuers. Recently, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the state’s bond rating to the lowest in the nation.

This is something that’s not clearly understood.  We can’t borrow money and that market will not snap back even if we pass a budget, especially since it hinges on must-pass initiatives that won’t be resolved until May.  And yet $11 billion of the budget is based on, yes, BORROWING.

By the way, Abel Maldonado’s effort to get an “allow Abel Maldonado to be able to win a Republican primary” rider tossed into the bill takes major chutzpah.

Democrats, who had already given into Republicans’ long-held dreams of large tax cuts for small businesses and for some of the entertainment industry and a proposed $10,000 tax break for first-time home buyers, balked at Mr. Maldonado’s request that the legislature tuck a bill into the package that would allow voters to cross party lines in primary elections.

Mr. Maldonado, who is also seeking a constitutional amendment to prevent lawmakers from getting paid if budgets are late, defended his request that the open primary bill be included in the budget package.

“There needs to be good government reforms in this budget, and no member should be getting pet projects,” he said. “I think with an open primary, we would have good government that would do the people’s work.”

While he’s at it, why not a law making his votes count three times as much as any primary opponent?  I mean we need good government reforms like that.

…CapAlert reports that Maldonado has a “list of demands” – open primaries, no pay for lawmakers any day after a late budget, bans on legislative pay raises and per diem increases in down years, and “cutting out the pork” in the budget, which is just a revival of his nonsensical John Chiang feud.  In other words, Maldonado wants some populist notches on his belt, and he wants the laws of the state tipped in the direction of his statewide electoral prospects.  This part made me laugh out loud:

He wants an open primary system similar to those used by local governments in which the top two vote-getters regardless of party run in the general election. The system is said to favor moderate candidates, such as himself, rather than encourage primary hopefuls to woo voters at their party’s extremes. He acknowledged he plans to run for statewide office, but sold the open primary as more of a “good government reform.”

Um, yeah, Abel, if you are making up LISTS OF DEMANDS as a condition for your vote, the last thing I’d call you is “moderate”.

The Senate is now scheduled for a floor session at 6pm, depending on how much tissue is needed to keep Maldonado from crying.

…John Myers has audio of Abel’s demands.  Amusing to hear him not deny that these demands are entirely based on his desire to run for State Controller, coincidentally against his new feuding partner John Chiang, in 2010, and act like he’s some kind of good government independent voice (“What are the Republicans afraid of from an open primary?”) in the process.

I just want to thank Don Perata for threatening every Democrat out of Maldonado’s re-election last fall.