budget

So, let's recap. The week after the Field Poll shows that the California legislature has the lowest approval rating EVER -- even lower than Richard Nixon -- a budget gets passed. The governor, in the face of a recall threat by the powerful don't-call-me-prison-guards union talks tough and the cowardly legislature gives in. And everybody is blaming each other and the requirement to have a two-thirds majority to pass a budget. That about right? Can't get much worse than that.

SACRAMENTO -- Senate President pro Tem Don Perata said Thursday that he stands behind a new proposal that is expected to bring to an end the longest budget impasse in state history.

The Senate has scheduled a 4 p.m. Friday vote on the spending blue print.

"I am glad it's over," Perata said. "As I said before, I don't think any of us would put this on our highlight reels. It's 80 days late, and real people are getting hurt."

Perata's full press statement:

The state budget has come down to a big, multi-billion dollar game of chicken, and it looks like the legislature flinched first.

Republicans have realized that overriding a threatened veto would mean voting on pieces of the budget they had not previous supported, and now seem more willing to talk. The governor is expected to meet with lawmakers today.

Today's budget quote of the day comes from Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, who voted for the budget but had this to say about it: "It doesn’t make sense."

No, but it does make for entertaining quotes.

Gov. Schwarzenegger (R) has threatened to veto any budget plan unless it contained three budget reform items, but early this morning, the legislature finally passed a budget containing only two of his requested changes.

His office said that without more strict rules governing the rainy day fund -- his third requirement -- it would turn "into nothing more than a slush fund that can be raided at any point and up to any amount".

Will he veto the budget? Right now, support for a recall is low, but that could change if he's seen as prolonging the budget fiasco. Plus, the legislature can override him anyway.

Below is a roundup of some of today's relevant budget stories as well as some of the buzz on the intertubes.

I leave the state for a couple of weeks (no, I did not go to the convention) and the governor fails to keep the simplest of promises:  To do nothing.

Instead of keeping his word that he would not sign any legislation until the budget crisis was resolved, Schwarzenegger signed the high-speed rail bill, AB 3034, so that it could be put on the ballot in November.

"The high-speed rail legislation will replace a $10 billion bond measure on the November ballot with a revised version of the proposal that makes the bullet train system more appealing to voters statewide," explained the San Francisco Chronicle.