3.15.2011

Legislature Schedules Vote on Budget, GOP Still Opposes Plan

Both the California Senate and Assembly have scheduled votes for 1:00 pm March 16 on a $123 billion budget plan that attempts to close a $25.4 billion gap between revenues and spending commitments over the next 16 months.

It’s anything but certain the 20 bills – the budget itself and 19 implementing measures – will be approved since Republicans and Democrats don’t appear to agree on the merits of the package.

“As approved by the budget conference committee, the governor’s proposed budget is the only plan on the table that responsibly and honestly promises to put California’s fiscal crisis behind us once and for all,” said Senate president Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg in a statement.

“It’s also a plan that allows Californians to vote on the future of our state. There is no time to waste. Let’s vote.”

Apparently, the document the Sacramento Democrat is referring to is not the same one as Senate GOP Leader Bob Dutton of Rancho Cucamonga.

“The simple truth is, the budget the Senate Democrats are putting up for a vote … is not a balanced plan,” Dutton said in a statement.

“It is just another short-sighted tax-and-spend scheme that relies on a $50 billion bailout from California taxpayers. It does nothing to fix the state’s budget crisis or put Californians back to work. The Democrats say, ‘Let the people vote,’ but what the Democrats really want is for the people to pay for government as usual.”

Although the floor sessions are called for 1:00 pm, Republicans and Democrats in both houses will likely caucus at length behind closed doors before trying to tackle the package.

Under the plan lawmakers are expected to vote on, some $12.5 billion of the gap would be filled with spending reductions, including an 8 percent drop in monthly checks for welfare recipients and a $1 billion cut in support for the University of California and the California State University.

Another $12 billion would come from extending for five years several taxes set to expire this year.

More than $5 billion of that revenue would be given to counties to whom Brown and the Legislature would transfer responsibility for supervising adult parolees, incarcerating some low-level and juvenile offenders.

The tax extension proposal would be put before voters in June. If they reject the measure, lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown must add another $12 billion in spending reductions.

At least two Republicans in each house must vote to place the tax package on the ballot because it requires a two-thirds rather than majority vote.

Democrats also want another 18 bills needed to implement the budget to take effect immediately, also requiring a two-thirds vote – and some GOP support.

At the moment, only the budget bill itself – thanks to voter approval of Proposition 25 in November — is a majority vote.

Five GOP senators have been negotiating with the Democratic governor to win some concessions – a cap on state spending, ratcheting down of future pension benefits for public employees — for their help in placing the tax measure on the ballot.

It’s unclear what, if anything, they have won from Brown.

Nor is it likely that many members of the Legislature have acquainted themselves with the contents of the budget bill, SB 69, whose electronic version clocks in at 919 pages.

Almost as ponderous are SB 85 and AB 109, the measures that transfer authority from the state to counties for parolee supervision and jailing of juvenile offenders and certain low-level felony offenders.

Among them are persons who knowingly hire minors, try to bribe a player in an athletic event, install inoperable fire-protection systems or sell, dispense, administer or prescribe “preparations containing diphenylamine, paraphenylenediamine or paratoluylenediamine or a derivative of any such chemicals, to be used as eyebrow and eyelash dye.”

Still heading to state prison are persons convicted of serious and violent felonies or felonies that require registration as a sex offender.

To make the shift work, requires changes in numerous code sections besides simply the Penal Code. (See Below.)

BILL NUMBER: AB 109 AMENDED

BILL TEXT

AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 14, 2011

INTRODUCED BY Committee on Budget (Blumenfield (Chair), Alejo, Allen, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Cedillo, Chesbro, Dickinson, Feuer, Gordon, Huffman, Mitchell, Monning, and Swanson)

JANUARY 10, 2011

An act relating to the Budget Act of 2011.

An act to amend Sections 585, 650, 654.1, 655.5, 729, 1282.3, 1701, 1701.1, 1960, 2052, 2315, 4324, 5536.5, 6126, 6153, 6788, 7028.16, 7739, 10238.6, 11020, 11023, 11286, 11287, 11320, 16755, 17511.9, 17550.19, 22430, and 25618 of the Business and Professions Code, to amend Sections 892, 1695.8, 1812.125, 1812.217, 2945.7, 2985.2, and 2985.3 of the Civil Code, to amend Sections 2255, 2256, 6811, 6814, 8812, 8815, 12672, 12675, 22002, 25540, 27202, 28880, 29102, 29550, 31410, 31411, and 35301 of the Corporations Code, to amend Section 7054 of the Education Code, to amend Sections 18002, 18100, 18101, 18102, 18106, 18200, 18201, 18203, 18204, 18205, 18310, 18311, 18400, 18403, 18502, 18520, 18521, 18522, 18523, 18524, 18540, 18544, 18545, 18560, 18561, 18564, 18566, 18567, 18568, 18573, 18575, 18578, 18611, 18613, 18614, 18620, 18621, 18640, 18660, 18661, and 18680 of the Elections Code, to amend Sections 3510, 3532, 5300, 5302, 5303, 5304, 5305, 5307, 10004, 12102, 14752, 17700, 18349.5, 18435, 22753, 22780, 31880, and 50500 of the Financial Code, to amend Sections 12004 and 12005 of the Fish and Game Code, to amend Sections 17701, 18932, 18933, 19440, 19441, and 80174 of the Food and Agriculture Code, to amend Sections 1195, 1368, 1369, 3108, 3109, 5954, 6200, 6201, 9056, 27443, and 51018.7 of the Government Code, to amend Sections 264, 310, and 668 of the Harbors and Navigation Code, to amend Sections 1390, 1522.01, 1621.5, 7051, 7051.5, 8113.5, 8785, 11100, 11100.1, 11105, 11153, 11153.5, 11162.5, 11350, 11351, 11351.5, 11352, 11353.5, 11353.6, 11353.7, 11356, 11357, 11358, 11359, 11360, 11362, 11366.5, 11366.6, 11366.8, 11370.6, 11371, 11371.1, 11374.5, 11377, 11378, 11378.5, 11379, 11379.5, 11379.6, 11380.7, 11381, 11383, 11383.5, 11383.6, 11383.7, 12401, 12700, 17061, 18124.5, 25180.7, 25189.5, 25189.6, 25189.7, 25190, 25191, 25395.13, 25515, 25541, 42400.3, 44209, 100895, 109335, 115215, 116730, 116750, 118340, and 131130 of the Health and Safety Code, to amend Sections 700, 750, 833, 1043, 1215.10, 1764.7, 1814, 1871.4, 10192.165, 11161, 11162, 11163, 11760, 11880, 12660, and 12845 of the Insurance Code, to amend Sections 227, 6425, and 7771 of the Labor Code, to amend Sections 145, 1318, 1672, and 1673, of the Military and Veterans Code, to amend Sections 17, 18, 19.2, 33, 38, 67.5, 69, 71, 72, 72.5, 76, 95, 95.1, 96, 99, 107, 109, 113, 114, 115.1, 126, 136.7, 137, 139, 140, 142, 146a, 146e, 148, 148.1, 148.3, 148.4, 148.10, 149, 153, 156, 157, 168, 171c, 171d, 181, 182, 186.10, 186.22, 186.26, 186.28, 186.33, 191.5, 193, 193.5, 210.5, 217.1, 218.1, 219.1, 222, 237, 241.1, 241.4, 241.7, 243, 243.1, 243.6, 244.5, 245, 245.6, 246.3, 247.5, 261.5, 265, 266b, 266e, 266f, 266g, 271, 271a, 273.4, 273.6, 273.65, 273d, 278, 278.5, 280, 284, 288.2, 290.018, 290.4, 290.45, 290.46, 298.2, 299.5, 311.9, 313.4, 337.3, 337.7, 337b, 337c, 337d, 337e, 337f, 350, 367f, 367g, 368, 374.2, 374.8, 375, 382.5, 382.6, 386, 387, 399.5, 404.6, 405b, 417, 417.3, 417.6, 422, 422.7, 453, 455, 461, 463, 464, 470a, 470b, 473, 474, 478, 479, 480, 481, 483.5, 484b, 484i, 487b, 487d, 489, 496, 496a, 496d, 499c, 499d, 500, 502, 506b, 520, 529, 529a, 530.5, 532a, 532f, 533, 535, 537e, 538.5, 548, 549, 550, 551, 560, 560.4, 566, 570, 577, 578, 580, 581, 587, 587.1, 591, 593, 594, 594.3, 594.35, 594.4, 597, 597.5, 598c, 598d, 600, 601, 610, 617, 620, 621, 625b, 626.9, 626.95, 626.10, 629.84, 631, 636, 637, 647.6, 653f, 653h, 653j, 653s, 653t, 653u, 653w, 664, 666, 666.5, 667.5, 668, 800, 801, 803, 836.6, 1168, 1170, 1174.4, 1203.016, 1208.2, 1213, 1320, 1320.5, 2600, 2650, 2772, 2790, 2900.5, 2932, 3000, 3000.1, 3001, 3003, 3056, 3057, 4011.7, 4016.5, 4019, 4131.5, 4501.1, 4502, 4530, 4532, 4533, 4536, 4550, 4573, 4573.6, 4573.9, 4574, 4600, 11411, 11413, 11418, 11419, 12021, 12021.1, 1202 1.5, 12022, 12022.5, 12022.9, 12025, 12035, 12040, 12072, 12076, 12090, 12101, 12220, 12280, 12281, 12303.3, 12303.6, 12304, 12312, 12320, 12355, 12370, 12403.7, 12422, 12520, 18715, 18720, 18725, 18730, 18735, 18740, 20110, 22810, 22910, 23900, 25110, 25300, 25400, 25850, 27590, 28250, 29700, 30315, 30600, 30605, 30725, 31360, 32625, and 33410 of, to add Sections 17.5, 1203.018, 1230.1, 2057, 3000.08, and 3000.09 to, to add Title 2.05 (commencing with Section 3450) to Part 3 of, and to repeal Sections 3060 and 3061 of, the Penal Code, to amend Sections 10283 and 10873 of the Public Contract Code, to amend Sections 5097.99, 14591, 25205, and 48680 of the Public Resources Code, to amend Sections 7680, 7724, 7903, and 21407.6 of the Public Utilities Code, to amend Sections 7093.6, 9278, 14521, 16910, 18631.7, 19705, 19708, 30459.15, 32471.5, 32555, 38800, 40211.5, 41171.5, 43522.5, 43606, 45867.5, 45955, 46628, 46705, 50156.18, 55332.5, 55363, and 60637 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, to amend Sections 2478, 2800.4, 4463, 10501, 10752, 10801, 10802, 10803, 10851, 21464, 21651, 23104, 23105, 23109, 23109.1, 23110, 23550, and 42000 of the Vehicle Code, to amend Section 13387 of the Water Code, and to amend Sections 871.5, 1001.5, 1731.5, 1768.7, 1768.85, 3002, 7326, 8100, 8101, 8103, 10980, 14107.2, 14107.3, 14107.4, and 17410 of, and to add Section 1710.5 to, the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to criminal justice realignment, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately, bill related to the budget.