Fifty-nine days into the fiscal year, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata announced late Thursday that the Senate would vote on a variation of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget proposal Friday, including the temporary three-year sales tax hike but without a permanent cut to follow.
It is unclear if there will be the necessary two-thirds support for the budget.
"We've been working closely with the governor's office, and we're confident he can get us the votes," said Lynda Gledhill, a spokeswoman for Perata, D-Oakland.
But when the governor's office was asked if the administration had been securing support for the plan, Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear, said, "No, we have not."
The plan the Senate will vote on closely mirrors the compromise proposal that Schwarzenegger unveiled earlier this month. Lawmakers and the governor have struggled to balance the budget, which faces a $15.2 billion deficit. The new fiscal year began 59 days ago -- on July 1.
According to an outline provided by the Senate, the spending plan will be paired with "a rainy day fund and midyear cut authority to address future downturns in revenues."
Read the outline of the budget plan.
Depending on how that midyear cutting authority is drafted -- specifically whether the governor has sole authority to make cuts -- it would constitute a major concession for Democrats.
The plan would, according to the outline released by the Senate, "grant the governor the power to reduce spending on state operations by 7 percent ... whenever a budget deficit developed after the enactment of the annual budget."
While Senate Republican leader Dave Cogdill thanked the Democrats for "putting up a budget, he dismissed the proposal calling the 1-cent sales tax hike "one giant step backward by proposing a more damaging sales tax increase."
"In legislation, the devil is in the details," the GOP leader said in a statement late Thursday. "We will be analyzing the plan tonight, but at this point it does not appear to be something Republicans can support."
Schwarzeneggers spokesman McLear said, "We're going to reserve comment until we see the specific language" of the plan.
Democrats control 25 seats in the 40-member Senate and need 27 votes to pass the budget. Republican Sens. Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria and Roy Ashburn of Bakersfield have been eyed by the Democratic leadership as potential supporters of a compromise budget proposal.
But Ashburn has previously justified his potential support of a temporary sales tax hike, with the since-abandoned plan to later lower the tax rate.
"The sales tax would drop below the current rate and that would be a permanent tax cut," Ashburn said earlier this month. The budget vote on Friday will not include the permanent sales tax cut.
Maldonado has said of the budget. "If it's good for my district, I'll vote for it. If it's not good for my district, I won't."
The Senate is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. Friday to consider the budget plan.
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