June 16, 2011

Is This Budget Real?

On June 15, the Legislature passed the first majority vote budget in more than 75 years.  Coincidently, it is also the first time in almost 25 years that this was accomplished by midnight June 15. 

Governor Brown has three basic options for dealing with this budget:

1.     Veto the entire budget, as Governor Schwarzenegger did in 2009.

2.     Veto pieces in order to eliminate the most egregious gimmicks and have a balanced budget.

3.     Make few changes, declare victory, punt until January 2012 and let the courts work out any legal issues.

The Governor will hold a press conference at 12:15 p.m. today regarding the budget and other issues.

A major question is whether passing this budget was simply a negotiating technique in order to ensure members of the Legislature complied with Proposition 25 and will continue to receive their salary and per diem. 

I do not see any reason for the Republicans to change their negotiating positions after the budget has passed.  Their best position may be to support litigation and June 2012 ballot initiatives in lieu of further negotiations. The Governor’s actions, however, could make both the Democratic majority and Republican minority strategy and plans moot if the Governor adopts option 1.

More to follow…

~Dave Walrath