Budget Votes Likely?

[Anthonysmanifesto]

For those of you who follow such things, The state is currently operating sans budget.

should the budget vote be passed, which is the present "rumor under the dome", it means the the houses will start moving their files.

its not the first time such scuttelbutt has proven untrue, but the Capitol is fully staffed and its after 5 o'Clock.

things such as AB 1471 , microstamping are sitting on 3rd reading, which means it can be taken up at any time, after the budget is passed.

[Anthonysmanifesto]

There is no budget yet, and therefore all other business is on hold ( you are safe another day).

Tuesday August 21st cant run late into the night, as its the annual legislative softball game that evening, that a quorum will be present at. That game, and the festivities following ( the GOP is favored to win over the dems for the 6th straight year) normally run well in to the wee hours.

so either the deal is cooked and they are ready to pass the budget and the amended "trailer" bills tomorrow afternoon, before the softball game, or look to Wednesday for the Budget to be sen tto the Governor and regular business to be acted upon.

[tiki]

There is no budget yet, and therefore all other business is on hold ( you are safe another day).

Tuesday August 21st cant run late into the night, as its the annual legislative softball game that evening, that a quorum will be present at. That game, and the festivities following ( the GOP is favored to win over the dems for the 6th straight year) normally run well in to the wee hours.

so either the deal is cooked and they are ready to pass the budget and the amended "trailer" bills tomorrow afternoon, before the softball game, or look to Wednesday for the Budget to be sen tto the Governor and regular business to be acted upon.

Haa Haa. Yeah, screw the budget, it's softball time. What a bunch of idiots.
I can see why they work where they do. They certainly wouldn't last where I am.

[Rumpled]

This constant not getting th ebudget done in time should stop.
And I don't think that the remedy is what I've seen in the liberal press recently, changing the vote required to straight majority.

I think every legislator should lose ALL funding, pay, benefits, staff, staff pay and benefits until a budget is sent to the Gov if it's after July 1.

Make it hurt them where they feel it most. To truly make it work, they would never get those lost $ and benefits back.
Let's see how they do if they get injured without insurance!

[Anthonysmanifesto]

..........

[Patriot]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/21/BAG5SRMK4B10.DTL

(08-21) 12:35 PDT Sacramento -- After weeks of wrangling and partisan bickering, three of 14 holdout Republican senators agreed today to support a $145 billion spending plan, giving it the votes needed for passage.

The budget bill passed the Senate on a vote of 28 to 9, ending one of the longest budget stalemates in recent state history. Senate passage required 27 yes votes.

The state Assembly already approved the budget on July 20, but follow up legislation will probably be considered today in the state's lower house to match actions in the Senate.

Today's Senate vote essentially ends a 52-day delay in adopting a state budget, well short of the record set in 2002 when the budget was not signed into law until Sept. 5.

The plan sets aside a record reserve of $3.4 billion, pays off $2.5 billion of the state's bond debt early while providing sufficient funds for almost all state services.

Republicans said they won spending cuts that reduce the state's operating deficit this year to zero as well as protections for local governments from lawsuits over global warming concerns.

But the two month delay caused serious cash flow problems for hundreds of hospitals, clinics and day care centers as well as state vendors, local road managers and nearly 600 legislative employees -- all of which could not be paid since the new fiscal year began July 1.

Republican Senate Leader Dick Ackerman, who cast one of the three GOP votes in favor of the budget, said the holdout improved the state's spending priorities.

"With the help of the governor we are going to bring this budget down to a zero operating deficit," he said. "We've also increased the reserve to a respectable amount.

"This budget contains no new taxes, fully funds education and fully funds law enforcement -- I think this will move the ball forward for California," Ackerman said.

[Anthonysmanifesto]

The Senate passed the Assembly Budget bill on to the Governor, with promises from the Governor to veto especially egregious sections that the GOP didn't like.

the Senate then amended the "trailer bills" which dig in to the details of how fund are appropriated and squeaked them out for the Assembly on concurrence.

now the Governor will either live up to his promises or not, but the Legislature is done.

[stator]

The issue with the budget has been the prediction of revenue during the budget year. Of course, no one knows the exact revenue until shortly after the close of that year. This necessitates forecasting.

Spending hawks, largely Republicans, have been concerned about the forecast being too optimistic. When this happens, the spend to revenue ratio worsens. So, when a budget spending levels are based upon forecasted levels, but actuals are lower, more deficit spending occurs.

The concern of lower revenue stems around the forecast of property values. Some believe the forecasted growth of property values and thus the increase of tax revenues are too optimistic given the current climate, and that we could end up with a deficit busting budget. This, in turn, would lower our state's bond ratings and therefore increase our bond payments.

Democrats joined by Arnold seem to be hold true to their roots of spending, spending, and more spending. Too many people think bonds are free and/or cheap money.

[Bishop]

I don't know why they're so concerned about figuring out a balanced budget...

Why start now? :rolleyes: