State Budget Watch
On the state’s 61st day without a budget, here were the key developments in Sacramento:
THE PROBLEM
Legislators and Gov. Pete Wilson need to bridge a $10.7-billion gap between anticipated revenues and the amount it would take to continue all programs at their current levels, rebuild a reserve for emergencies and erase last year’s deficit. Without a budget for the fiscal year that began July 1, the state is short of cash and cannot borrow money to pay its bills. Instead, claims are being paid with IOUs, known as registered warrants.
GOV. PETE WILSON
Vowed to veto the budget bill if the Assembly fails to promptly pass and send to him the remaining bills needed to implement more than $5 billion in spending reductions. The major measures among these so-called “trailer bills” would make cuts in health and welfare, education and local government.
THE LEGISLATURE
* The Assembly met late into the night to debate and vote on the trailer bills. Despite the governor’s veto threat, Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) said there was pressure among his members to make changes in Senate-passed trailer bills. Many lawmakers, he said, had agreed to vote for the main budget bill Saturday only on the condition that they would get a chance to amend the follow-up implementing legislation.
* The Senate did not meet.
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
