[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Led by Speaker Fabian Núñez Assembly lawmakers today approved nearly $1 billion in immediate emergency budget cuts and other funding solutions to ease the state's budget deficit. The Assembly passed six bills this morning that freeze funds to schools, cut payments to doctors who care for the poor, and keeps the state from spending hundreds of millions of dollars in unspent funds on a wide range of projects for the rest of the year. A bill that would have closed a tax loophole for the owners of yachts, RVs and private planes was defeated because Republican lawmakers refused to vote for it.  Speaker Fabian Núñez and Assembly Budget Committee chairman John Laird says the cuts will ensure the state doesn't run out of cash this summer. However, both men said the ongoing budget crisis in 2008/09 will be more difficult to solve and will require a balance between spending cuts and new revenues.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

California legislative Democrats and Republicans joined in today and passed by large margins painful cuts in state spending to turn a $3.7 billion hole in this fiscal year’s spending ending in June into what may be a $1 billion reserve. Laws that require payments in health and human services, and in other areas were also revised that will reduce the problems for the next fiscal year from a deficit of about $15 billion to about 7 or 8 billion dollars.

The debate was fairly harmonious in the Assembly where the leadership of both parties and the members recognized that quick action needed to be taken to avoid insolvency. Most of the bills passed by large margins in the Senate as well—although the debate itself was more intense, personal, and partisan.

We are in very difficult times as a state. As early as next week, when the Legislative Analyst’s Office issues a new report, there may be more bad news and the combination of cuts and revenue enhancements that will need to be made is expected to increase once again as California’s economy and tax collections weaken. It is going to get even uglier.