How to Follow the California Budget Process as Legislative Conference Committee Meets to Reconcile Differences

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

The California Budget Project has created a nifty 14 page table that provides a good overview of the Schwarzenegger Administration’s proposed budget, the Senate passed budget, and the Assembly passed budget together with links to additional information.

In columns, side by side, there are short paragraph or sentence descriptions of areas to be reconciled of these three different versions as the legislature’s conference committee on the budget works its way through them. The conference committee began its work Friday, following passage of different versions of the state budget by the two different houses after more than 100 hearings of budget subcommittees and committees starting early this year.

You can watch the Conference Committee on the California Channel for live results and view past meetings through the archives of the California Channel. Of note, there also is a press conference by Assembly and Senate Democrats on the budget shortly before the Conference Committee began its work.

The California Budget Project will be providing additional updates as there is information and is a great source to bookmark to follow the action in Sacramento.

The CBP Table is broken down by:

Revenues
Lottery
Medi-Cal Program
Healthy Families Program
California Work Opportunity and Responsibility Program (CalWORKs)
Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment (SSI/SSP)
In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS)
Food Assistance Program
Other Human Services
Child Care and Development Programs
Prop 98
K-12 Education
Community Colleges
University of California
California State University

Stay tuned for developments.