Republican legislative leaders and Democratic Governor Kathleen Sebelius reached agreement on a package of legislation that ends the Sunflower State’s budget crisis. Governor Sebelius signed legislation that cut $300 million in the current budget year; once that was signed, Republican legislative leaders allowed interbudget borrowing that allowed the current payroll and tax refunds to be issued. All sides believe the budget issues for the fiscal year ending in June have been resolved.
But next year looks tight, and everyone agrees that the 2009-201 budget will be challenging. Governor Sebelius red-penciled the current year education cut (from $32 million to $7 million). It’s likely that there will be significant cuts in education in next year’s budget.
Meanwhile, no change here in California—just a lot of bickering in Sacramento.