Posted on 07/08/2005 7:49:14 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO -- The state Legislature easily passed a $117.5 billion spending plan Thursday that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to sign next week, paving the way for the start of talks over his government reform package.
The Assembly approved the financial plan 65-13 and the Senate, 34-4.
"This budget puts California on the path toward rebuilding to make our state great once again," Schwarzenegger said in a written statement. "However, California still has a broken budget system that spends more than the state takes in.
"We must now use this same bipartisan spirit to work together to bring needed, fundamental reform to the system."
This is the earliest a budget has been passed since 2000.
Approval came just two days after Schwarzenegger and the legislative leaders from both major parties announced a compromise negotiated over the Fourth of July weekend. Last year's budget wasn't passed until July 29.
The improving state economy also allowed the state to include full funding of $1.3 billion for transportation projects under Proposition 42, and it also will repay $1.2 billion owed to cities and counties a year earlier than it is due. The budget also increases the education budget by $3 billion to a record high of $61 billion, although education leaders believe schools were shortchanged by another $3 billion under Proposition 98.
Projections of a deficit in fiscal 2006-07 range from $4.7 billion to $7.7 billion. About this time last year, the deficit projection for 2006-07 was $16 billion.
Some Republicans who voted against the plan said it still spends too much in 2005-06 and leaves too large a deficit for the following year.
"We will have stripped our children of their ability to meet their generation's needs as they struggle to repay the mountain of debt with which we have crippled them," said Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, who voted against the budget.
He added that spending is still growing faster than the state's population and inflation rates.
Assemblywoman Audra Strickland, R-Moorpark, also voted against the budget, although she found a few elements she liked.
"The good news is we are passing a budget that doesn't raise taxes and that funds Proposition 42. Our transportation is in great need of attention in California," Strickland said.
"The bad news with this budget is that starting Day One of this next fiscal year, we're going to find ourselves with a $4.5 billion deficit and a lack of structural reforms that would have kept us out of this position in future years."
Some Republicans also voiced objections and voted against elements of the budget because it contains Medi-Cal funding for abortions.
Some Democrats who supported it said they would have liked to have seen more spending on education, transportation and other services.
"It's a best-we-can-get budget," said Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys. "We tried in good faith to do what was right. We don't fund education as much as we should, don't fund transportation as much as we should or could.
"There's a number of things we should be doing that we're not because the partisan games being played by the Republicans refused to allow us to do it."
State legislators are next expected to turn their attention toward the governor's package of reform measures slated for the November ballot. Democrats hope to work out alternative compromise measures to place on the ballot that the governor will ask voters to support instead of his original package.
His reform measures include redistricting, budget control and teacher tenure. He also supports in concept a "paycheck protection" measure that could lower the amount of member dues that unions can spend on political activity. The measure is strongly opposed by legislative Democrats, who hope to include it in the discussions with the governor.
The Legislature takes a one-month recess beginning July 15. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, D-Los Angeles, originally said he hoped to have a deal on the reform measures in place before then, but he now believes he has a few extra weeks and may be able to wait until legislators return.
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HOW THEY VOTED:
Here's how local legislators voted on the budget deal:
YES:
Assembly members Dario Frommer, D-Glendale; Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood; Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys; Cindy Montanez, D-San Fernando; Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills; Keith Richman, R-Northridge; Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster.
Sens. Richard Alarcon, D-Van Nuys; Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, George Runner, R-Antelope Valley; Jack Scott, D-Pasadena.
NO:
Assembly member Audra Strickland, R-Moorpark.
Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks.
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The budget is growing faster than ever. What's up with that?
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