It's not exactly an Olympic event, but this year's Great Budget Delay is on a record- setting pace. With no budget Monday, the 2008 delay trudged past the old fifth-longest delay in history, which took place in 1997. Governors have signed only four budgets later than Aug. 18, and only three have been later in being passed by the Legislature. Next up: last year's passage date of Aug. 21. That's Thursday.
Republicans want a constitutional state spending limit. What happened to the one approved years ago?
The Gann Limit, named after its author, Paul Gann, confined state spending in the 1980s but was loosened in 1990 and hasn't been heard from since. The Legislative Analyst's Office says state spending was $16 billion below the Gann Limit in 2007-08 and is likely to be $11 billion below this year.
A Sacramento Superior Court judge set a Wednesday hearing to decide whether to expedite review of the Schwarzenegger administration's lawsuit against Controller John Chiang to force him to slash pay for more than 170,000 state employees. Judge Timothy Frawley will decide whether the case deserves expedited review. Chiang is scheduled to begin printing checks for the August pay period on Friday.
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