California State Budget

California Secretary of State Debra Bowen appears to have run out of patience with the legislature and the governor, and who can blame her? They have talked of adding measures to the November ballot as part of a budget deal, but there's been no deal and they've ignored all deadlines. The governor and lawmakers seemed to believe that they could simply waive the deadlines in the law and regulations.

This afternoon, Bowen's office issued a statement in which she closed the door on waiving deadlines to add measures. "We are at the point where that is unacceptable," she said in the statement. She has advised county election officials to move forward with their November general election preparations without the governor and the legislature. Bowen's making the right call--it's essential to get the November ballots right, and that takes time. But it also deepens the state's budget stalemate. The goal of getting measures on the November ballot offered one of the few time pressures that seemed to mean anything to our procrastinating elected leaders. Now, that bit of time pressure is gone. If there are going to be ballot measures as part of any compromise, they would appear on a special election ballot in 2009, if the governor chose to call one, or on the next scheduled statewide ballot, the June 2010 primary.

In a news conference, a frustrated and angry Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger blasted legislators of both parties for failing to reach a budget compromise ("shameful") and offered another budget proposal. This is unusual. California governors typically release two budget proposals -- one in January, and one in May. But the governor has put forward a compromise plan that includes a temporary sales tax increase -- violating his promise not to raise taxes -- in exchange for budget reforms. He said he was taking a risk: "I'm stepping over the line here," he said.

There was a take-it-or-leave-it feel to the session, which was cut short after four questions. He said it was time for budget "dialogue" to stop. "This is not part of the kabuki or anything like that," said the governor, all but demanding his proposal be passed.

Other highlights:

-Schwarzenegger admitted openly that his first attempt to fix the state's budget problem--the ballot measures Propositions 57 and 58, which were approved by voters in 2004--had been a failure. "This year is coming out clearly that our budget reform that we attempted in 2004 with Props 57 and 58 does not work," he said.