Sacramento Bee: Big Cuts Made Yesterday but No Budget

 

Photo by Hector Amezcua / hamezcua@sacbee.com

Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, D-Los Angeles, right, and Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge, have a heated discussion Wednesday on the Assembly floor as lawmakers began whittling down the state's budget deficit.

Brown's Countdown, Day 67: Legislators cut $7.4 billion, stall on redevelopment funds

By Kevin Yamamura and Jim Sanders
kyamamura@sacbee.com The Sacramento Bee

Published: Thursday, Mar. 17, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 1A

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

Lawmakers took their first bite out of Gov. Jerry Brown's budget Wednesday, cutting about $7.4 billion across state government and clearing a significant share of the $26.6 billion deficit.

But Democratic leaders, and Brown in particular, spent much of the day behind closed doors in an unsuccessful effort to persuade reticent legislators to eliminate roughly 400 agencies that fund redevelopment projects and save the state another $1.7 billion.

Cities have mounted a fierce campaign to block the proposal, fearful of losing control over billions of dollars that would flow to schools, counties and public safety instead of civic projects.

Democrats had geared up for a partisan fight and framed Wednesday's first floor votes as a test to see whether Republicans would agree to cuts in the governor's budget. But Republicans left little room for suspense; most GOP members signed on to cuts in the Senate, while a requisite handful did in the Assembly.

All told, lawmakers approved about $7.4 billion in cuts to state and local programs. They include reductions to welfare-to-work grants, co-pay requirements for Medi-Cal patients and services for the developmentally disabled. Lawmakers also approved fund shifts that will result in less money for childhood development, mental health and local transit.

"Democrats and Republicans must come together to approve these bills and show our commitment to finally attain a solution that will balance our budget and put our fiscal house in order," said Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, D-Los Angeles. "We're facing challenges unseen since the Great Depression."

Even with cuts, the state is staring at nearly a $20 billion problem. Brown has proposed to erase much of that with $14 billion in taxes, including $11.2 billion from extending higher tax rates on income, vehicles and sales. Under Brown's design, the extensions would require voter approval.

But that battle was on hold Wednesday as the Democratic governor focused on squeezing out enough votes to eliminate redevelopment agencies. Brown set up shop in Pérez's office across the hall from the Assembly chambers, first trying to ensure all Democrats voted for the plan and then courting Republicans.

Initially, all Democrats but Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge, voted for the proposal. Pérez seemed to take umbrage at Portantino for holding out; at one point, they argued on the Assembly floor, pointing fingers at each other. In the end, Portantino voted for the bill.

But that left Democrats needing one more vote from Republicans, and Brown was having trouble securing it late Wednesday.

"There's some politics being played," Brown said after emerging from the speaker's office. "They feel that doing nothing is a very good objective … There's some plan that the more things they derail, the better."

In the early going, it seemed that Assembly Republicans were poised to reject spending cuts. Some even railed against slashing funding for the poor and disabled, using talking points normally reserved for Democrats.

"I wonder at what point we are going to take (this) seriously and stop focusing our cuts on the most disadvantaged in California," said Assemblyman Cameron Smyth, R-Santa Clarita, in opposition to $600 million in developmentally disabled cuts.

That prompted one Democrat to accuse them of "posing" and others to sneer in astonishment.

"You can't get up here and pound your fist about spending and then say these cuts are too hard," said Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, D-Woodland Hills, chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee.

After both houses shut down for the evening, Brown emerged to say the game plan still calls for "more cuts."

"We've got to cut," he said. "Some of the Republicans in the Assembly who don't want to cut apparently don't want to tax. Therefore they must want a radically unbalanced budget. And I think that's not acceptable."

Some Republicans said they had been ignored during the budget process and preferred other ideas, such as drilling for oil off the coast or reducing benefits for public employees. They also may have simply been waiting for all Democrats to sign on.

"The bills that are being voted on today have been crafted by Dems without much, if any, input from Republicans," said Darrel Ng, spokesman for the Assembly Republican Caucus. "Given that they have brought these bills to the floor, we expect that they all as a group will vote for them. If the Democrats can't muster votes in their own caucus for their own bills, I don't think it's reasonable to expect others to support their bills."

A week has passed since Brown's self-imposed budget deadline, and about two more weeks remain until state leaders can no longer place taxes on a ballot in June. The governor has been negotiating with a dwindling number of Republicans interested in swapping a tax election for long-term governance changes.

The main divide has been over whether to ask voters to extend higher tax rates on sales, income and vehicles for five years, generating more than $9 billion annually and about $11.2 billion toward the current budget.

Traditional battle lines have ruled the discussion. A small bloc of Republicans, calling itself the "GOP 5," has asked for a permanent spending restraint, pension cuts for public employees and various environmental and regulatory changes. The items would result in little immediate budget savings, but Republicans say they would reduce future deficits and spur job growth.

Unions and environmental groups have pressured Democrats to hold firm and reject many of those ideas, particularly ones that require a constitutional change.

To test Republican support, Democrats waived their new ability to pass budget cuts on a majority vote and drafted legislation requiring two-thirds approval. Setting a higher threshold meant that the cuts would pass only if at least two Republicans in each house approved them.

"We want to start as much as possible on a bipartisan basis here and begin to create a little bit of momentum here toward a comprehensive solution," said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg before Wednesday's vote.

Steinberg, a Sacramento Democrat, said he wanted to lock in necessary cuts and isolate the tax extensions.