It appears that substantial enough progress may have been made in negotiations to achieve a 2/3rd vote in the Senate on the budget. Not being a policy wonk, I will sum up the essence of the deal as this: (1) the Governor blue-line vetoes 700 million in non-gimmicky real cuts, (2) the CEQA reforms demanded by Senate Republicans are achieved for two years, at least as far as infrastructure bond issues are concerned, and (3) some clean up takes place in numerous trailer bills that were flawed as a result of a speedy passage in the Assembly.
My source gives the caveat that the Assembly has not been involved in this negotiation, but he is hopeful they will approve this deal.
We’ll wait to see how this all pens out. At the end of the day, we’re still talking about “putting lipstick on the pig” when we talk about this fat, bloated budget. Still, it is better for the effort of Assembly Republicans and looks to be better yet for the work of Senate GOPers. Still, nothing I would vote for…but that would take a lot more giving than Perata and Nunez would or could produce…
As I pen this, Senate Republicans are still caucusing, so this is all in a bit of flux…