[Southack]

Well said. This is an amazingly fortuitous ruling. Sweet!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

The Chronicle could not bear to tell us some details on the reason and parties behind this case:

State Controller Kathleen Connell and the state employees' union pledged to fight the ruling, which stems from a 1998 case pitting Connell against a taxpayer advocacy group. The group contends that state officials can't dole out money if there is no budget in place.

This has the detail:

California: Court says schools to lose if budget is late

This is not a trivial little court case,

The ruling in a 4-year-old lawsuit filed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association comes as legislators, faced with a record $23.6 billion budget gap, are battling over a proposal by Gov. Gray Davis to raise taxes and cut health and welfare programs.