$42 billion and counting

Numbers Game: The long-term solution to the state’s financial woes, says Monterey Assemblyman Bill Monning, is to “do what 47 other states do— allow the majority, or even 55 percent, of the Legislature to approve the budget,” instead of California’s two-thirds requirement. Nic Coury

State budget impasse continues.

By Jessica Lyons

Thursday, February 5, 2009

California ran out of money this weekend. The state stopped paying its bills, which means contract workers aren’t getting paid, residents won’t receive tax refund checks anytime soon and schools, counties and cities face delayed payments– all because of lawmakers’ failure to fix the state’s financial crisis.

The state faces a $42 billion budget hole through July 2010. Despite ongoing closed-door meetings between legislative leaders and Gov. Schwarzenegger– the so-called Big Five– lawmakers have failed to negotiate a budget deal. The Republican governor and Democrats want to fix the deficit through a combination of cuts and taxes. But because California’s constitution requires two-thirds approval of the Legislature to pass a spending plan, at least three Republicans from each house must sign on. Last summer, all state GOP legislators signed a pledge not to raise taxes. Their solution: deep cuts. Dems say cuts alone won’t work.

“We have a cash crisis right now, and there’s a solution for it, but it takes three Republican votes in the Assembly and three in the state Senate,” says Assemblyman Bill Monning (D-Monterey). “This is an extraordinary situation caused by a national and worldwide recession. The bottom has fallen out of the economy, and the only proposal from the Republicans is $39 billion in cuts and borrow the remainder by taking money from mental health funds and children’s healthcare.”

A spokeswoman for Republican Sen. Jeff Denham, who represents the Salinas Valley, says Denham does not support new taxes. “He believes there are billions of dollars in government waste that need to be trimmed,” Jann Taber says.

Sen. Abel Maldonado, a Republican who represents the Monterey Peninsula, could not be reached at press time.

“It’s a situation where a small group of people, if they link arms and sign a pledge, they can take the state of California over a cliff, and that’s really what is happening,” says Assemblywoman Anna Caballero (D-Salinas). “The Republicans have refused to come to the table and talk about new sources of revenue.”