A budget deal is imminent! Oh, wait. Maybe not.
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For about 10 minutes on Thursday night it looked like a deal to pass California’s long overdue state budget was imminent. Democratic leaders emerged from three-hour meeting with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to deliver the most upbeat news of this budget season. They expected a deal ‘tomorrow or by the weekend at the latest,’ said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento).
No Republican lawmakers followed, as would be expected if big news were about to break. And Schwarzenegger, who has just returned to Sacramento after a weeklong trade mission in Asia – and was expected to talk with reporters about that, and the gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno last week -- cancelled a promised press briefing. Instead, his spokesman, Aaron McLear stepped into the hallway outside the governor’s office to say a budget, “is not significantly closer. I think they made some progress, but there are no major breakthroughs.”
Thursday marked the 78th day of the budget impasse, setting a record for the longest the Legislature has gone without approving a spending plan.
McLear refused to quantify how far apart the two parties are, but said the remaining debate centers on how deep to cut spending. He added that recent reports suggesting state leaders would close the gap by borrowing from the California Public Employee Retirement System, the state’s pension fund for retired public employees, were wrong.
A statement from Schwarzenegger regarding CalPERS borrowing was released by his office soon after. “California’s leaders have to solve the budget deficit in a responsible way, and any idea to borrow money from the CalPERS pension fund is off the table,” the statement said.
Budget negotiations between the governor and legislative leaders are scheduled to resume Friday at 11 am.
-- Jack Dolan in Sacramento
