State Lawmakers Meet Budget Deadline

The budget fight in Sacramento, with billions of dollars in cuts and taxes on the line, turned ugly on Wednesday with some pushing and shoving on the assembly floor.

When it was all over, Democrats pushed through their budget plan, beating a midnight deadline.

Democrats control both the state senate and the assembly.

Last year, Californians voted to allow lawmakers to approve a budget by a simple majority and that’s what happened.

“We prefer to work with you,” said State Senator Darrell Steinburg (D-Sacramento). “But with or without you, we will use our majority to govern California.”

Assemblymen Don Wagner (R-District 70) and Warren Furutani (D-District 55) nearly came to blows during a debate over a controversial redevelopment plan — both had to be separated.

It was glimpse of how intense these negotiations have been in the months leading to passing the budget.

“We have to live with the revenue that we have,” said Assemblyman Brian Nestande (R-District 64).

The Democrat’s plan to close the $10 billion budget gap includes collecting sales tax on online retailers like amazon.com.

Lawmakers said that tax should generate $200 million for the state’s revenue.

The local sales tax will also rise by 0.25 percent.

The UC and CSU systems will be cut another $150 million each.

Public schools will not receive $3 billion in borrowed money.

“Since they borrowed it, they need to pay it back,” said Kathy Skelly, a teacher.

The California Teachers Association said the budget will help in the short term, but it doesn’t provide any real long-term solutions.

Assemblyman Manuel Perez (D-District 80) released a statement on the passage of the state budget and said, “while it’s not the approach I would have preferred, this is an on-time, balanced budget. It builds on the tough cuts we made in march, but also includes a $600 million reserve and makes a major reduction in the on-going structural deficit.”

But Governor Jerry Brown (D-CA) still has to sign off on the budget, and so far he hasn’t said whether or not he will do so.

Brown’s plan to extend current taxes failed because of a lack of Republican support, so the Democrats said they had to resort to plan b.

Republicans said the Democrats rushed passing this series of bills.

Lawmakers faced losing pay for each day the budget was late.