California’s constitution required a budget be enacted by June 30th. Californians ought to ask June 30th of what year as there are no negotiations in Sacramento right now. Meanwhile, there was some news from Governor Schwarzenegger. He told reporters today, “If I do not get all of the things that we need … I will not sign a budget, and it could actually drag out until the next governor gets into office.” Democrats’ response is that the Governor threatens children and public education.
What does Governor Schwarzenegger want? He is demanding changes to public pensions, and to California’s budgeting and taxation systems. He opposes Proposition 25 (on the November ballot); that ballot measure would eliminate the two-thirds voting requirement in the legislature for passing a budget and replace it with a simple majority. To no one’s surprise, labor unions and Democrats are in favor of Proposition 25 and the California Chamber of Commerce opposes it.
Meanwhile, Californians are caught in the middle. There is a cost for not having a budget. Instead of making the budget cuts today that are going to happen, those cuts will be made sometime in the future…and those cuts will have to be larger in order to have a balanced budget. It appears that Democrats in Sacramento are more than willing to wait it out.
Tags: 2010CalBudget