The budget is heading to the floors of the Legislature this week for a final vote, but the positive revenue picture raises an interesting issue: Democrats seeking funding for key programs want a biggear piece of the pie and, so far, the governor is saying no. They'll scuffle some more in January.
From the AP's Judy Lin: The budget compromise between Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature's Democratic leaders largely mirrors the governor's proposal for a fiscally restrainedspending plan that assumes conservativerevenue projections."
"But there's a catch: Rank-and-file Democratic lawmakers say they are agreeing to less spending than they wanted so they could pass the budget on time, although they will push for funding pet projects next year. That's when they expect the state's tax revenue will be coming in higher than the Brown administration projects."
"Such a scenario could clear the way for hundreds of millions of dollars in discretionary spending on a wide range of programs, from Medicaid reimbursements paid to doctors and hospitals to extra money for courts and community colleges. Just this week, the state controller's office said monthly cash receipts beat estimates by 12.4 percent, or nearly $800 million."
A key element of the new fiscal landscape is the deal struck by the governor and lawmakers on dividing up the money from Proposition 39, the voter-approved initiative that ended a $1 billion corproate tax break.
From Capitol Weekly's Alex Matthews: "Finally, late Sunday evening, Sen. Kevin de León, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said lawmakers and Brown reached a deal on the money generated by Proposition 39."
"On its face, the requirements of Proposition 39 were clear: About half the money from Proposition 39 was supposed to be deposited in the Clean Air Job Creation Fund to help boost clean-energy jobs and a “green” economy, or about $500 million annually over the next five years. The other half of the $1 billion total was destined for public education, and it was this piece that prompted the fiercest debate in the Capitol."
"But the administration and others said there was some flexibility about which state agencies would receive funds generated by the initiative in order to meet the end goal of achieving energy efficiency and job creation."
Speaking of money, Gov. Brown told a Capitol news conference that his plan to borrow $500 million from state cap-and-trade auction funds was justified in part by voters' approval of Proposition 39, which directed money to be spent on clean-energy projects.
From Capitol Weekly's John Howard: "Gov. Brown said his plan to take $500 million from California's cap-and-trade auction funds -- money that was intended to directly further efforts to fight greenhouse gas emissions -- is a "reasonable accommodation" aided in part by voters' approval last year of a measure to raise corporate taxes."
"We had Proposition 39 funding for many of these projects," Brown told a Capitol news conference. The $500 million loan is part of the governor's 2013-14 state budget draft, which was approved Monday by a two-house conference committee. It now goes to the floors of the Assembly and Senate for a vote by Saturday, the constitutional deadline to send the budget to the governor's desk."
"The governor has until July 1 to sign the document and announce any vetoes."
Watched closely by public officials and education reformers around the country, California's new budget plan reworks the way the state's K-12 schools are funded.
From Reuters' Sharon Bernstein: "Public schools in California would receive significantly more money to educate students from disadvantaged backgrounds under a deal announced on Tuesday that would dramatically reshape public school funding in the nation's most populous state."
"The deal, part of a broader agreement on the state's budget, also gives local school districts more control over how they spend the $55.3 billion that the state expects to allocate for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1."
"The deal comes as California, which has the ninth largest economy in the world, is experiencing its first budget surplus in years. All told, the state will spend $96.3 billion next year, and set up a rainy day fund of about $1.1 billion."
The tentative budget deal also didn't include a piece that Brown had long sought -- cutting the state's debt to schools.
From the Cabinet Report's Tom Chorneau: "A close review, however, suggests the governor had to give up a cherished element of his fiscal agenda to make the deal work – a rollback in his efforts to reduce the state’s debt owed schools."
"The tentative deal, which still needs to be translated into statute and pass out of the Legislature by Saturday’s deadline, appears to have strong support from Brown as well as Senate leader Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John Perez."
"If so, Brown will end a two-year struggle to restructure school funding with adoption of his Local Control Funding Formula – which gives district officials more control over spending decisions and targets more money to educationally disadvantaged students."
Finally, from our "This is When You Need Your Sense of Humor" file comes the miserable tale of a man who has lost his legs -- twice.
"The world's first double leg-transplant patient has had his legs amputated, a Spanish hospital has confirmed. The amputation was carried out after an unrelated illness forced the man to stop taking anti-rejection drugs, according to Valencia's Hospital La Fe."
"The hospital said treatment of the unspecified illness was "more urgent". The transplant was carried out in July 2011 by surgeon Pedro Cavadas, who also led a team that carried out the first double hand transplant in 2006."
"The man who received the double leg transplant, who was in his 20s at the time and has not been named, initially lost his legs above the knee in a road accident."
