This year, Republicans and Democrats have talked a lot about reforming the system and fixing the system. But I think it's time for the dialogue to stop and to create some action, and it is time for everyone to compromise and to get this done once and for all. Republicans must step out of their ideological corner on the right and Democrats must step out of their ideological corner on the left. We must meet in the middle. We must compromise so that we can move on with vital businesses besides the budget such as the water, court and prison crises that we're in.
All of us have been sent to Sacramento to find common ground here and to get results and to move California forward. My compromise budget does exactly that.
• It includes an additional $2 billion in spending cuts above what the conference committee has agreed to.
• It sets up the strongest rainy day fund in the nation, so that we could be required to put money aside in the good years and stabilize revenues in the tough years.
• It gives future governors the power to make mid-year spending cuts so that when they see a deficit coming they can make those cuts immediately.
• And it includes also an economic stimulus package to put people back to work and help revive our economy.
These are groundbreaking reforms that will end our feast-or-famine budgeting and help restore the public's faith in state government.
But in exchange for permanent reform and a budget system that really will work, I am willing to compromise on the temporary 1-cent increase in the state's sales tax followed by a permanent cut, which means then it will go after three years below the level where it is now by 0.25 cents.
This budget does not borrow or steal money from local governments, nor from transportation. It is not a get-out-of-town budget. It does not kick the can down the road and let someone else then worry about it later on. It's a fiscally responsible compromise with reforms that fix our system once and for all.
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