Friday, August 22, 2008

A State Without a Budget: Day 53 and counting - WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

Despite the requests from the Governor to stay at their desks and not go to their respective conventions - and assurances from the legislators that they would stay on the job ...and rumors that they would work through the weekend - none of the above seems destined to happen.  Marty D. Omoto, Director/Organizer of the California Disability Community Action Network reports Friday evening on the California Progress Report that No California budget deal appears cose but both houses will  meet on Monday.

Assembly Will Finish Up Work On Bills Aug 31

Assembly Will Meet Monday and Then No Session Until Friday

    The Assembly - with over 30 Democratic members scheduled to attend next week's Democratic National Convention - will convene on Monday (August 25) at 1 PM, but will not meet again until Friday, August 31 at 9:30 AM. That will allow State Senate and Assembly Democrats time to attend the Democratic Convention. The Republican National Convention is scheduled the following week.

Senate Schedule Not Certain

The State Senate is scheduled to convene on Monday (August 25) but has not scheduled sessions beyond that yet.

NEXT STEPS

* LEGISLATURE: Both State Senate and Assembly will meet on Monday with floor sessions to take final actions on bills. Assembly will then not meet again until Friday, August 31 to finish its work on bills for the 2008 legislative session. The Senate has not released its schedule beyond Monday yet. Those session dates could change if a budget deal is reached - but at this point, no agreement is even close and a vote on the budget doesn't appear to be likely any time soon.

* GOVERNOR: Bills passed by the Legislature are not being sent to the Governor, but are being held temporarily because of his threat to veto all bills sent to him until a budget is passed. The State Constitution give the Governor until September 30th to sign or veto bills (or allow bills to become law without his signature), so the Legislature could hold bills that it passed until close to that date in theory. This has never happened before however.

Omoto: With California now 53 days without a State budget, the State Senate and Assembly will convene on Monday (August 25) to continue finishing up work on regular legislation. Currently, the deadline to pass bills for the 2008 Legislative session is August 31.

Both houses have adjourned for the day (Posted on Friday, August 22, 2008 ) and will not return until Monday. Leadership in both houses could call members back into floor sessions over the weekend if a budget deal is reached - though that is not likely to happen with Legislative Republicans and Democrats still far apart on any budget deal.

Earlier both houses had hoped to finish up work today and perhaps even recess the legislative session, but that hope vanished as the stand-off on the State budget grew worse.

Impact of Budget Delay On People With Disabilities, Mental Health Needs & Seniors

The impact of budget cuts - both proposed and enacted, and the delay in the budget itself has major impact on hundreds of thousands of children and adults with disabilities (including developmental), mental health needs, seniors, low income workers and families, community organizations who provide services and supports because the State has cut off payments until a budget is in place.

The impact varies depending - some services have received funding through a special trust fund, but even that fund now has been exhausted. Community organizations - especially the middle sized and small ones across California are facing serious crisis in meeting payroll and paying other costs without receiving State reimbursements or knowing when it can receive those funds.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger released a proposed budget compromise - referred to as the "August Revision" this week that includes $2 billion more in proposed spending cuts and also a temporary 3 year 1 cent increase in the State sales tax and budget reforms. But his budget compromise proposal was greeted with opposition by Legislative Republicans who strongly oppose any tax increases and by Legislative Democrats who oppose more spending cuts, especially to education, and have reservations about a sales tax increase as opposed to increase income taxes.

 

CPR: No California Budget Deal Appears Close—Both Houses to Meet on Monday

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