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SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) – California lawmakers on Friday approved a state budget filled with spending cuts and creative accounting to fill a $19.1 billion deficit, 100 days after a spending plan should have been in place. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he hoped to sign the budget package as soon as Friday evening, but critics fear his successor, to be elected on November 2, will immediately face a new shortfall as rosy revenue assumptions prove unfounded. That's a familiar story for California, which has seen its revenue plunge in recent years due to recession, as well as turmoil in financial and...

Sacramento -- California voters, frustrated by the recession and the state's fiscal crisis, gave Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature their lowest-ever approval ratings, according to the Field Poll released today. Only 33 percent of registered voters surveyed April 16-26 said they approved of Schwarzenegger's job performance, while 55 percent said they disapproved and 12 percent were undecided. Schwarzenegger's rating is his lowest since becoming governor in 2003. But the governor's numbers are better than the Legislature's approval rating, which sank to 14 percent, with 74 percent disapproving. It was lawmakers' worst rating since the Field Poll began tracking such...

"You can't cut the whole $15 billion," Schwarzenegger said, referring to the gaping hole in a $102-billion general fund. "You'd have to severely cut into education, which I don't think is the right thing. You would severely cut into health care, which is not the right thing to do. You would severely have to cut into prisons, and we can't do that." A good Republican trade-off for a one-cent-on-the-dollar sales tax increase for three years, he asserted, would be a long-term budget fix: A constitutional amendment requiring the state to transfer 3% of its annual revenue to a rainy-day fund...

The Little Hoover Commission published its much-anticipated report on the California Performance Review today. The 38-page document contains a mix of strong support for the concept of government reform and skepticism over the execution of proposed changes. The CPR report, a 2,500-page publication that was initiated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in February, contains recommendations on how the state can become more efficient, responsive, streamlined, and effective. The final document, released in August after a spate of public hearings, proved controversial as members of the CPR commission recommended the elimination of numerous boards and commissions. Then there was the matter of...

California Governor Arnold Scwarzenegger may not exactly be homeless, but the only place in Sacramento where he and his wife can call home is a Hyatt hotel across the street from the state Capitol. State officials are questioning how the hotel's sizable room rate is being paid. According to the San Francisco Chronicle's columnists Matier and Ross, California's Fair Political Practices Commission demanded the Schwarzeneggers stop having the governor's campaign committee pay the hefty $6,000-a-month rental. There is no governor's mansion in Sacramento, so, starting today, the hotel bill is being paid by a new nonprofit foundation that is on...

During the recall campaign, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger slammed his opponents for taking Indian gaming money -- but according to state filing reports, a new campaign committee set up to help cover the governor's living and travel expenses just took $21,200 from a company with ties to a number of California Indian casinos.

<p>Los Angeles -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein, in a split with California's Congressional delegation, said Thursday she is so outraged by the recall election that she'll refuse to vote for a replacement candidate despite the presence on the ballot of the state's No. 2 Democrat.</p>

<p>But with the entrance of movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger into the California recall election, LaRue is taking notice.</p> <p>"The only thing that appeals to me is that he has his own money," said the 20-year-old college student. "He could do what he wants, if he gets elected."</p>

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 11, 2003 Contact: James Lafferty (202) 547-8570 CMG ISSUES 10 QUESTIONS THAT MAKE SCHWARZENEGGER HIDE Arnold May Not Give a "S-t" But Millions of Californians Do Anaheim, CA - Californians for Moral Government (CMG), a religious conservative organization started by Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, issued a list of questions today which the organization wants to ask gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger. "Mr. Schwarzenegger has said very little in public about the important moral issues," said Rev. Sheldon. "And what he has said is outrageous." Rev. Sheldon cited a quote which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle concerning...