On the 100th day of the fiscal year, California lawmakers approved the tardiest budget in state history this morning after a marathon session at the Capitol.
The $87.5 billion spending plan relies on rosy assumptions about revenues from taxpayers and the federal government, as well as reductions to state worker pay, prisons, and social services. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger expects to sign it as soon as today, enacting the final budget of his gubernatorial career.
The last vote was cast in the Senate at 8:25 a.m. The package of spending bills had been held up in the upper house for hours as Democratic leaders tried to overcome the loss of three of their members - two to illness and one to a court date in Los Angeles.
State leaders faced a $19 billion deficit that the result of faulty solutions in last year's budget, as well as a prolonged economic downturn and a permanent imbalance between how much California spends and how much it receives in revenues.
Republicans and Democrats disagreed for months over how much spending to cut and whether to raise taxes. But their debate in the final days ultimately seemed to hinge on whether Democrats and labor unions would agree to cut pensions for future state workers, which Schwarzenegger demanded all year.
In the end, Democrats helped broker a deal between Schwarzenegger and the largest state worker union, Service Employees International Union Local 1000, to establish a lower tier of pension benefits for workers hired starting in mid-November.
By Kevin Yamamura and Torey Van Oot
kyamamura@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Oct. 8, 2010 - 8:57 am
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