So, do you want the short version, or the long version?
The short version goes something like this: Abel Maldonado ate a muffin, and a few hours later,
we had a budget deal.
Yes, some time around 6 p.m. Sen. Abel Maldonado made the following post on
his Twitter feed : "Just ate a healthy muffin.. maybe 1000 calories in the members lounge, no one here!! should
get me thru midnight ugh!!"
And 13 hours later, we had a 31-bill budget package get through the Senate.
It's like magic, only ... different.
(You can read the entire blow-by-blow on the Capitol Weekly Twitter feed, for the sickest of you political junkies).
As of this writing, the Assembly was still finishing
up its dirty business. So the Senate gets the prize
for being done first. but, to be fair, the Assembly
spent a good deal of the night just waiting for the
Senate to pass its bills. And for a while, there, it
was touch and go. There was drama over cuts to local government, and lots of hand-wringing over language to a proposal for limited oil
drilling off the coast of Santa Barbara.
In the end, all 31 measures passed -- but some of them just barely.
A quick refresher for those of you playing along at
home, the LA Times answers your budget questions.
"The budget would make $6 billion in cuts to kindergarten through
12th-grade schools and community colleges. State Supt. of
Public
Instruction Jack O'Connell said those cuts are to be made by canceling
state funding for new textbooks for five years; eliminating a
requirement that special-education students pass the high school exit
exam to obtain a diploma; and reducing the school-year minimum from 180
days to 175."
Most of the papers are holding off until the Assembly
finishes its work this morning. But not everyone is
waiting. In case you didn't have enough fun with the legislative agony, the Chron's Matthew Yi and Carla Marinucci report, "Big-city mayors, environmentalists and even the state insurance
commissioner said they would consider filing lawsuits against the state
as soon as any budget is approved.
The budget ordeal had an element of the surreal as
a number of legislators faithfully updated their Twitter
and Facebook accounts from the floor throughout the
night. In addition to Maldonado, Assemblymen Tony Mendoza , Chuck DeVore , Dave Jones and Ted Gaines were among the Twitterati.
Strangest post of the night goes, narrowly, to Mendoza,
who some time after 1 a.m. wrote, "What do members
do in between bill votes? We gather in members lounge
and sing Hotel CA
with guitar: gathered around like in a campfire. Nice"
OK, then...
So, what does Wall St. think of the deal? The OC Register's Mary Ann Milbourn gives that question to the Magic 8 Ball that is John Chiang.
"California Controller John Chiang said today that he can’t guarantee
he’ll be able to stop issuing IOUs even if the state budget
is approved.
Just because you have a budget doesn’t mean you have cash in the
state treasury,” Chiang told guests at a UCI Paul Merage School of
Business luncheon in Irvine. “We need action to put money in the state
treasury.”
Furthermore, he said he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to repay the
IOUs already issued when they can be redeemed beginning
Oct. 2
Chiang said it all will depend on the state’s cash flow and how much
money is in the treasury on any given day compared
to the obligations
he must pay.
“I’ll pay if we have enough cash or (the October IOUs) will roll
over and I’ll issue a second round,” he said.
The state must also pay
3.75% interest on the IOUs.
We'll have more updates at Capitol Weekly as the day progresses, and if and when the Assembly
passes a deal. But in the meantime, we'll leave you with this:
"Dubai's Al Nassma, the world's first brand of chocolate made with
camels' milk, plans to expand into new Arab markets, Europe, Japan
and
the United States, its general manager said Tuesday.
"Martin Van Almsick said the United Arab Emirates company planned to enter Saudi Arabia first, followed by Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the United
States within the next few months.
"The company plans to enter the Saudi market in a month
through a
partnership with a Jeddah-based distributor, said Van Almsick, adding
the company plans to deliver the first ton of chocolates
to Saudi Arabia soon.
"Al Nassma is also in talks with British department store Harrods and San Francisco's Chocolate Covered to sell its products."
Good luck with that.
