July 7, 2009

No State Budget in Sight

By David Walrath

As an indicator of the potential delay in reaching a budget agreement, the Senate has started policy committee hearings again.  Policy committee hearings in the State Senate had been suspended until there was a budget.  This suspension was based on the belief that negotiations were close and an agreement could be reached over the July 4 holiday weekend.   That optimism has faded as the Assembly Speaker has chosen not to attend recent budget negotiations; the Governor has added new proposals to the negotiations; and none of the major players have agreement on a $26 billion budget balancing plan.

Frequently the budget process is referred to as a dance or a kabuki play; in this case the dance analogy is more appropriate.  It appears the partners have broken apart, taken steps backward and are dancing to different melodies.  

I hope that the Legislature will continue its commitment to fully fund the Proposition 98 minimum guarantee and not allow the Governor to manipulate the guarantee to force the education community into court to override any manipulation.