Jun 16, 2008 10:41 am US/Pacific
California Lawmakers Fail To Meet Budget Deadline
SACRAMENTO (CBS 5 / KCBS) ―
For the 22nd year in a row California lawmakers have failed to approve a new budget by the constitutionally mandated deadline, which came and went at midnight, with no new spending plan in sight.
"How many more years, how many more decades should we go through this crisis?" said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who calls California's budget system "dysfunctional."
It will have to be at least one more year, because lawmakers did not come up with a way to close a more than $15 billion deficit by June 15th.
Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines blames runaway spending, and says the GOP will not go along with the Democrats' desire to raise some taxes.
"We've over-promised everything, and expanded everything so much in state government, that there's no way to pay for it," said Villines.
But State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata says they've already cut $6 billion from the budget, and without additional revenue California will be in pain.
"We're cutting into the bone right now, and we'd like to get some credit for that," said Perata. "It's not like we're saying, lets just tax and spend. We're not spending on things that are luxury items here."
Spending has gone up 33 percent under Governor Schwarzenegger, which is slightly more than under Gray Davis, who was recalled.
Legislators now turn their eyes to the next deadline - the start of the new fiscal year, July 1st.
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