Missed Deadline Brings More Pain
Despite dire warnings from parents, students, teachers, public safety officers, and state officials, lawmakers in both houses missed the critical June 30 deadline for approving and sending to the governor a spending plan for the 2003-2004 fiscal year.
Both the Senate and the Assembly tried several times to gain the needed two-thirds margin for a new budget. All these efforts failed in the face of Senate and Assembly Republican opposition to any spending proposal that includes a temporary half-cent sales tax increase. Such an increase is crucial to prevent further cuts that would hurt classrooms and other key state programs.
California goes into the July 1 start of the new fiscal year with no budget in place and with its day-to-day operations funded primarily by borrowed money, according to state officials.
In advance of the deadline, education and public safety representatives, Gov. Gray Davis, and State Controller Steve Westly warned that delays in approving a budget past June 30 would have a dire impact on the state.
Those dire warnings were delivered during the last week in June against a backdrop of little legislative progress toward adoption of a budget.
Those warnings were reiterated on July 1. At a Capitol news conference, Gov. Gray Davis - flanked by educators, firefighters, and public safety officers - urged lawmakers again to set aside partisan differences. He called on them to approve a budget quickly with a temporary half-cent sales tax increase to stave off further cuts that would decimate classrooms and police and fire protection.
"Lawmakers have assignments due and they are late," said Lynne Faulks, CTA's Manager of Legislative Relations. "It's past time for them to complete their work by approving a new budget that includes a modest tax increase and no further cuts for schools."
During the news conference, Gov. Davis signed two executive orders extending a freeze on most state hiring and eliminating vacant positions. Both actions aim at helping California shrink the budget gap. The governor emphasized that the budget cannot be balanced by cuts alone.
In late days of June, Senate Republican opposition to any tax increases - including bringing the Vehicle License Fee (VLF) back up to 1998 levels - kept the pending spending plan from gaining the constitutional required two-thirds majority needed.
At the same time, business in the Assembly had virtually stopped as the house's Democrats journeyed to the legislative districts of Assembly Republican holdouts. In those districts, Democrats talked to the public about the need for tax increases to balance a budget. They hoped the discussions would prompt their Republican colleagues to move forward on the pending proposal.
In an exclusive interview with E-PAL at the Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday, June 25, Assembly Member George Nakano (D-Torrance) said despite the Assembly Republican resistance, the constituents and local government representatives he spoke with were solidly behind proposals to raise the VLF and impose a temporary half-cent sales tax to help bridge the $38.2 billion budget gap.
When the Democratic Assembly Members returned to Sacramento, they twice tried to pass a budget. These attempts fell short of the required two-thirds majority when Assembly Republicans once more refused to vote for the spending plan on June 27. For their own part, Assembly Republicans proposed still more cuts - and the elimination of both the Vehicle License Fee increase and a proposed half-cent temporary sales tax increase - that pending budget proposals use to span a $38.2 billion budget revenue gap.
Education Coalition Continues Statewide Efforts
Despite the missed deadline, CTA and the Education Coalition have been continuing their efforts to persuade a handful of Republican Assembly Members and Senators to approve the Education Coalition budget quickly.
The Coalition has run radio spots in key markets across the state, part of a $1 million advertising blitz aimed at urging lawmakers to protect schools and other vital services by voting for the pending budget.
In Sacramento, CTA and Coalition representatives took part in a meeting with Gov. Gray Davis and a news conference right after, where they pointed to the dire consequences for schools of delaying the budget and blocking the needed tax increases. Without the revenue boosts, classrooms and students would be hit again, even beyond the $4.1 billion schools have already suffered.
CTA Members:
Continue contacting your state Senators and Assembly Members. Urge them to approve quickly the governor's revised proposal that balances the budget with a minor tax increase to prevent even deeper cuts in classroom spending. With the June 30 deadline missed, every additional day's delay brings more pain to students, teachers, and others relying upon the state budget.