links for 2009-02-16

The plan under discussion would nearly double vehicle license fees, raise sales taxes by 1 cent, increase gasoline taxes by 12 cents a gallon and add a surcharge of as much as 5% to Californians' income tax bills. It also would reduce the dependent care credit for families by about $200 a year. These tax hikes would be temporary.

The package also would eliminate $15.1 billion in government services and borrow $11.4 billion, some of which would be erased by the stimulus package Congress recently approved. It also contains about $1 billion in tax breaks for businesses.

One vote shy of a budget deal, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday pressured reluctant Republicans in the Legislature to pass a complex plan to close the state's $42 billion deficit.

Many Republicans are unwilling to raise taxes to deal with the state's historic deficit, but at least three GOP votes were needed in each house for the two-thirds majority required to pass the budget.

"My guess is everybody's arm is getting twisted," said Sen. Dave Cox, a Republican who had been among the Democrats' best hopes for a deal. "My answer is no, and I'm not looking for additional information. I've made my decision."

Sen. Abel Maldonado said this afternoon he's open to providing the final Republican budget vote needed to close the deal on the state's $40 billion budget shortfall.

Hours after he told the San Jose Mercury News, "There's nothing they can give me that would make me vote for this budget," Maldonado said he was open to the idea if the roughly $15 billion tax increase package can be massaged to his liking.

"I'm very concerned with the tax package," he said before the Senate recessed until 3:30 p.m. "We're still working on that. Everything's fluid… I don't want my state to go off the cliff, OK? I don't want that."

Maldonado, a moderate Republican from Santa Maria, did not say what changes he wanted. He noted that he had provided tough budget votes in year's past.

Sacramento Bee online editorial asking Senator Cox to sell out California taxpayers.

Despite a long night of frantic negotiations, legislative leaders are still struggling to find enough Republican votes to pass a bill that would close California's $42 billion budget gap and end 102 days of partisan gridlock.
Only a single Republican, Senate Minority Leader Dave Cogdill, voted for the budget bill when it came up in the Senate Saturday evening, while state Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, did not vote. Senate leaders left the bill open for possible vote changes, but it will only pass if Cogdill can somehow find two more GOP votes.

Thoughout the night, Cogdill, state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger cajoled reluctant Republicans, trying to convince them to provide those final needed votes, but to no avail.

One vote shy of a budget deal, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday pressured reluctant Republicans in the state Legislature to pass a complex plan to close the state's $42 billion deficit.

The head of the state Assembly locked the chamber down, forcing members to remain as the measure stalled in the Senate.

Many California Republicans are unwilling to raise taxes to deal with the state's historic deficit, but at least three GOP voters were needed in each house for the two-thirds majority required to pass the budget.

"My guess is everybody's arm is getting twisted," said Sen. Dave Cox, a Republican who had been the among Democrats' best hopes for a deal. "My answer is no, and I'm not looking for additional information. I've made my decision."