Free Republic

SACRAMENTO – Lawmakers were stuck on whether to include new reservoirs in a massive public works program yesterday as they missed a formal deadline for placing a record bond measure on the June ballot. However, legislators said the $47 billion bond proposal to help build a new backbone for economic growth in California can still make the ballot if legislation is passed by early next week. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has called for a historic investment in the state by ultimately pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into roads and mass transit, water facilities, housing, parks and school and university buildings....

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Negotiators said they would resume talks Thursday on California's stalled budget as tensions mounted over the last remaining stumbling block - reforming how the state pays for the operations of local governments. The question of local government financing has stymied a budget settlement for nearly a week, pitting city mayors and county supervisors against the Legislature's Democratic majority and increasingly, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Negotiations ended Wednesday without resolution, and there was a growing sense three weeks past the constitutional deadline for adopting a budget that local officials may not be able to reach agreement with lawmakers...