Legislative leaders said today they at last have a compromise deal on an 11-week-late state budget that calls for no tax increases, no borrowing from local governments or other state special funds -- and which makes no one happy.
Emerging from a weekend meeting in the office of Senate GOP leader Dave Cogdill, the quartet declined to give specific details of their compromise plan, saying they wanted to talk to their respective caucuses first.
But they said the plan closes the $15.2 billion gap in the $103.4 billion budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 with $9 billion in spending cuts. The rest of the gap will be patched by closing tax loopholes and "accelerated revenue collections," an accounting term for collecting some one-time revenues in this fiscal year rather than the next. The leaders indicated that while balanced, the budget anticipates at least a $2 billion hole in next year's budget.
They also said it contains reforms of the budget process that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had demanded, including beefing up a rainy-day reserve fund and giving the governor limited authority to make mid-year budget cuts.
"I believe we are 99.9 percent there," said Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles. "Each of us has to talk to our respective caucuses, but we look forward to having a vote on the budget (Monday)."
Senate President Don Perata, D-Oakland, went Bass one-10th better by saying he was "100 percent sure that there is a deal here."
Perata also said Schwarzenegger's representatives have been privy to the deal, and that he was confident the governor would find it acceptable. Schwarzenegger has warned he would veto any budget that relied on borrowing or lacked structural reforms.
"The agreement as it stands today should get us a budget," said Assembly GOP leader Mike Villines of Clovis, "and allow us to move forward."
It also will allow legislators to get out of Sacramento. The regular session ended in August, but the lack of a budget kept lawmakers in town. Assuming the governor likes the deal, the compromise will allow legislators to send more than 700 bills to Schwarzenegger's desk.
The governor had vowed to veto legislation sent to him before a budget, and lawmakers countered by simply holding onto the measures.
Call The Bee's Steve Wiegand, (916) 321-1076.
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