Copyright© 2007 by School Services of California, Inc.

                                      Volume 20                   For Publication Date: August 3, 2007             No. 17

Republican Budget Proposals Not Ready, No Senate Action 

Despite the directive of President pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) on Saturday, July 21, 2007, after a failed 19-hour floor session on the Budget, the Senate Republican’s Budget plan was not ready for action on Wednesday, July 25, at 9:00 a.m. as hoped. Senator Perata indicated that the Budget Bill and all 15 trailer bills required amendments and that not all of these changes had been incorporated into the bills  Moreover, legislative staff and the Department of Finance had not had a chance to review all of the changes. 

Senator Dick Ackerman (R-Tustin), the Senate Republican leader, laid out many of the proposals in a column he wrote exclusively for the FlashReport (www.flashreport.org), a leading conservative blog. The column indicates that the Republican Budget proposal fully funds K-12 and higher education and would eliminate the $700 million operating deficit. While details of the budget proposal are scant, Senator Ackerman highlighted a few of the major proposals and the associated savings in his column. Included among the proposals are: 

·                    Elimination of 6,000 unfilled or vacant state positions ($50 million)

·                    CalWORKs reform requiring recipients to meet federal work requirements or risk losing their aid ($314 million)

·                    Elimination of the U.C. Labor Institute ($6 million)                       

The Republican Budget plan was not in print, and Senator Perata indicated that the Senate would reconvene on July 26 at 9:00 a.m., at which time all of the bills would be available for action. He thanked his members for their attendance and said that, despite taking no action on the Budget, it was “good practice” to be ready to vote. 

             —Robert Miyashiro and Dave Heckler