Schwarzenegger: No budget until he’s gone?
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Nearly four weeks into the fiscal year without a budget, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested Monday that California might have to wait until his successor is sworn in next year to get a spending plan -- unless lawmakers give him everything he wants.
Schwarzenegger says the Legislature must curtail public pensions and change California’s taxation and budgeting systems before he will sign a budget this year, his last as governor. He leaves office in January.
“If I do not get all of the things that we need ... I will not sign a budget and it could actually drag out until the next governor gets into office,” Schwarzenegger told reporters after an event at the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, according to a recording provided by the governor’s office.
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said in a statement Monday he was ‘prepared to grant his wish’ if Schwarzenegger ‘continues to insist on granting billions in corporate tax cuts financed by drastic cuts to public education and programs for working mothers and their children.’
The state faces a $19.1-billion deficit for the budget year that began July 1. Rank-and-file lawmakers departed Sacramento for recess weeks ago, as talks between top lawmakers and the governor have shown little progress.
Schwarzenegger on Monday blamed lawmakers for the tardy spending plan, saying they “go on vacation.” Lawmakers are set to return to the Capitol next week. Even in the best scenario laid out by the governor Monday, he said the state was “still weeks away from a budget agreement.”
-- Shane Goldmacher in Sacramento