The California Budget Dance Continues, but We Will Have a Vote

It looks like there will finally be a budget vote, in the Legislature, but this will be just a symbolic vote. It is very unlikely that the 54 votes needed to pass the bill will be there, but I guess it is a move forward.

Capitol Notes from KQED summarizes the most recent steps:

BUDGET DAY PLUS 44 -- It now looks as though the Assembly will convene on Sunday to consider a budget proposal, in what would be the first actual floor vote on a new spending plan this year.

But it's not necessarily a deal. In fact, as of now, it's not a deal at all.

Assembly Democrats have scheduled a floor vote for 3 p.m. on Sunday, and believe that the budget to be debated represents a fair balance between their position and that of Governor Schwarzenegger. One would assume that this means some blend of taxes and spending limitations... even budget reform. But there's no confirmation of exactly what will, or won't, be in this budget bill.

As such, it's not surprising that there's no word of official support from the governor. And Assembly Republicans are quick to point out that they're not on board with what they've heard so far... which means the bill will almost undoubtedly fail to garner the necessary 54 votes for passage.

In years past, such floor actions have been derided as a political "drill," because the outcome was never in doubt. But this year, it seems everyone is finally ready to have that public debate. And perhaps some venting on both sides... assuming no deal is struck in the next three days... is the only way the budget impasse can be resolved.

Budget Deal? No Deal

When I say that there might be a budget deal I wanted to get it up on the blog as soon as I knew that a deal might be in place. However, the deal fell apart. According to the Sac Bee:

In the five hours between Perata's two comments, it became clear that Republican leaders were not joining Perata's call for a vote. Neither were Assembly Democrats nor Schwarzenegger.

"I think we keep getting closer, but there are still issues to work out," said Aaron McLear, Schwarzenegger's spokesman. "We hope that the legislators have the same sense of urgency that we do. We need to get this done."

It appears that the contentious items are for future budgets. These include the "spending cap" and giving the governor the ability to governor to make mid year budget cuts. Until both sides come together the budget impasse will continue.

LA County Sales Tax Clears Appropriations Committee

Another follow up on the transportation tax from the Bottleneck Blog. Assembly Bill 2321 has cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee. In order to make it to the ballot officially it has to get the past the Governor's Desk.

Here is the scoop from the bottleneck blog:

With almost no prior warning, the state Senate's Appropriations Committee quickly convened this afternoon and approved AB 2321, the state bill that would allow a proposal for a half-cent sales tax increase in Los Angeles County to be placed on the Nov. 4 ballot.

UPDATE: The vote was 14 to 0, with one absence. Among the supporters were state Sen. Jenny Oropeza and state Sen. Gil Cedillo, both of whom had issues with the bill before it was updated.

I just got off the phone with Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles), the sponsor of the bill. He said the amendments included so-called "intent language" that clarified that some of the sales tax revenues should be spent on several projects, including a Green Line Extension to LAX, fixes at traffic hotspots along the 605 freeway, the Gold Line extension and 710 Freeway improvements.

Budget Deal?

According to the SacBee: the Dems and the Governor have struck a budget deal. Will the Republican's take the deal?

According to Senate Pro Tem, Perata's office: the compromise plan includes a major concession by Democrats - a spending cap to limit annual state expenditures.

Workers Accuse Oakland Contractor of Not Paying Prevailing Wage

According to the Oakland Tribune employees of NBC Contractors are taking their former bosses to court for not paying the prevailing wage. If this is true it is some pretty bad stuff.

A general contractor hired by cities around the Bay Area to build things from schools to city halls is being sued by its workers, who claim the company didn't follow the state's prevailing wage law and forced them to sign false timecards.

In a lawsuit filed July 17 in Alameda County Superior Court, NBC General Contractors Corp. is accused of ignoring state labor laws by paying its workers minimum wage rather than a predetermined rate required for public works projects.

In addition, NBC General Contractors is accused of failing to pay its workers overtime, forcing them to sign fake timecards in order to receive paychecks and refusing to provide wage statements when requested by employees.

In general, state law requires contractors working on public works projects to pay their workers a set rate dependent on their job and skill level.

In Alameda County, prevailing wages for construction workers range from $10 an hour for a water well driller helper to $48 an hour for an electrician specializing in cable splicing and welding, according to the state's Department of Industrial Relations.

State law also requires all employers to pay workers overtime if the worker was on the job for more than 40 hours in one workweek.

But, according to the lawsuit, NBC General Contractors paid its workers below the prevailing rate with hourly wages ranging from $8 to $25 and refused to pay overtime even though many workers were required to report to a job site seven days a week.

Fuzzy Outline of the Budget Emerges, but Will It Come in Time?

So the budget deal may be shaping up. In order for the budget to pass the California Legislature, the budget must pass both the Assembly and Senate by a two thirds majority. Every year that I can remember the dance is the same but the song is different. The Democrats all agree to a position and the needed one or two Republicans support the bill weeks after the original deadline. This year there are three issues that they are trying to get on the ballot including a solution to the budget crisis. The question is, is there is enough time? According to the Secretary of State they have until Saturday to come up with a measure to put before the voters.

Dan Walters reported that the budget deal is shaping up, but it will require the voters to weigh in on several issues. Those could be spending caps, to limit spending during fiscally healthy years and provide the "governor power to cut spending when revenue is short". (What does this mean? Is this a line-item veto?). I think one good sign is that the Governor is working with individual legislators to get the votes needed instead of the leadership. Below are some excerpts from the article.

It's still a long way from being fully cooked, but the fuzzy outline of a deal on the much-delayed, deficit-ridden state budget is becoming visible as the deadline for placing measures on the November ballot draws near.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen says Saturday is the deadline, but Capitol types believe it could be stretched a week or two. And the deadline, whenever it may be, is an important ingredient in any budget deal, because at least one of the pending elements would have to be placed before voters.

The central element is what Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger calls "budget reform" – some new constitutional provisions aimed at preventing future fiscal problems by creating a "rainy day" reserve and giving governors more authority to cut spending when revenue falls short.

If they fail to get the budget measures on the ballot, a meltdown is predicted. Because the opportunity for the best options will have passed. Lets hope that does not happen.

More Bottlenecks for LA County Sales Tax

I have added a link to a great blog that addresses Southern California transportation issues. It is the Bottleneck Blog by Steve Hymon. He has been tracking LA County's sales tax path to the ballot. He recently reported that State Senator Jenny Oropeza may kill the sales tax bill to pay for a Green Line extension to LAX.

Now that the sales tax ballot measure has passed the Board of Supervisors. The bill must pass the legislature. Senator Oropeza has the "catbird seat" of being a swing vote on the Senate Appropriations Committee for or against the ballot measure.

Below is a quote from the article.

State Sen. Jenny Oropeza put it in no uncertain terms when I spoke to her late this Friday afternoon: she is prepared to kill the bill that would allow a half-cent sales tax increase to go on the November ballot in Los Angeles County to pay for road and transit projects.

“I said in order for the bill to pass the Senate, it is going to have to contain the Green Line extension,” Oropeza, (D-Long Beach), told me. “They” — Los Angeles County transportation officials — “understood that. They are playing a game of chicken and blaming the Legislature. I am praying to God they do the right thing. I don’t want to see this thing go down either.”

I asked her if she was prepared to try to kill the bill — and any chance of a vote in November. Oropeza firmly answered: “Yes I am.”

Stay Tuned: If the bill has not passed by the end of the week, then no dice & no ballot measure.

BART to Silicon Valley?

I don't believe it. Is BART going to San Jose? If two thirds of Santa Clara County voters approve Measure B then BART will take some of the first critical steps to ensuring that it will qualify for Federal Transportation Funds.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported this weekend that BART may be finally making it to Silicon Valley.

Santa Clara County voters will be asked in November to raise the sales tax to help fund the long-envisioned plan to extend BART to the Silicon Valley.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority governing board voted Thursday to place a measure on the Nov. 4 ballot to raise the sales tax in the county by one-eighth of a cent. The tax is now 8.25 percent.

The proposed increase would generate an estimated $42 million a year, money that would be dedicated solely to BART's added operational and maintenance costs for the 16.1-mile expansion into the South Bay from Fremont.

The plan calls for new stations in Milpitas, San Jose and Santa Clara.

After all of the times I got stuck in Traffic on my way to Sunnyvale, I think it is about time.

Photo by William Buckley