Sunday, Budget Sunday
[Below was tonight's "live blogging" of the Assembly budget debate and vote. Thanks to all of you who wrote in while it was happening. By the way, the original Sunday budget preview posting is now here.]
8:16pm Budget fails to get a two-thirds majority. Vote: 45-30. The two in attendance who didn't vote: Assemblymember Greg Aghazarian (R-Stockton) and Assemblymember Nicole Parra (D-Hanford). And with that, it's off to the post-vote press conferences. More tomorrow morning. It was a long debate… and it begins again in earnest tomorrow.
8:15pm The vote. The bell sounds. The tally board is lit up.
8:15pm: We're now officially at four hours for this budget debate. Laird appears to be wrapping up. "I think it's time to get to a solution," he says. "One dollar of revenues for two dollars in cuts and solutions… it's a good budget," he says.
8:06pm: Assemblymember Laird closes and asks for an aye vote. 49 total speakers, he says (and jokes that all Californians are probably glad that there weren't any more). Laird then reminds members of all of the spending in recent times that didn't actually go to state programs. "I don't think there was a single thing on that list," he said, "that was a partisan Democratic item." He also claims the GOP spending cap idea would've led to $18 billion in cuts this year, with $9 billion coming from K-12 education. And he then adds that at least a few Republicans voted for all of those budgets that the GOP now says spent too much. And Laird disagrees with the notion that half the tax increase would have to go to public schools. His argument is interesting, but the hour is late. You can sense the members are ready to vote.
7:55pm: And so it's ending. Assembly GOP Leader Mike Villines rises to speak, and focuses on tax increases of the past — namely, those enacted by former governors Reagan and Pete Wilson. And he hones in on the Wilson tax hike. "There was less tax money on the table" as a result, he said. Villines said he doesn't know which taxes are now on the table — sales tax, income taxes. "I just know it's a lot of taxes," he said.
"I think we can do a much better job than this budget," he tells assemblymembers. Villines go on to suggest tax cuts as an economic incentive, even in the face of the current budget shortfall. And as to the fact of a possible deadline to get items on the November ballot– he calls attention to the fact the Senate is not in session. Translation: a budget deal wasn't going to happen tonight anyway.
7:52pm: Assemblymember Keene gets up to speak, and tells Democrats that their proposed tax increase would actually result in only about half the money for general government services, while the rest would automatically go to public schools through the Proposition 98 guarantee. He mentions this as way of arguing the numbers don't add up. "You start out upside down. Do you realize that? Or does it even matter?"
7:48pm: Thanks to all seven live blog readers for emailing in. The cookies were chocolate chip.
7:45pm: Three and a half hours. The visitors gallery is now up to a whopping seven citizens! One is a young girl… she's chewing gum and leaning over the rail, looking down at the legislators like she's on a weekend trip to the zoo.
7:41pm: For all the rhetoric, a lot of Democrats and Republicans do… gasp… seem to like each other personally in here. Several small bipartisan groupings can be seen from my perch off the floor. Dems and Reeps chatting, even listening to the debate.
7:32pm: "You are all good and decent people. Until you got in this room." — Assemblymember Mike Eng (D-Monterey Park). He was making a joke, in case it doesn't come through here.
7:30pm: Cookies are being handed out by fellow Capitol reporter Marcey Brightwell. Homemade. Seriously. Good. She apparently just got off the news set at local ABC affiliate News10. That's dedication.
7:23pm: "Let's just get together." — Assemblymember Wilmer Carter (D-Rialto), who then proceeded to tell a story about how she has a knack for working with "difficult" people. She then pleaded with her colleage to "please don't let me be in trouble" with constituents by having to go home and tell folks she couldn't bring everyone in Sacramento together.
Carter's remarks received applause. Call it the feel good moment of the afternoon/evening.
7:20pm: I had to take a break and finally eat that packed away sandwich. Turkey and cheese, if you're curious. Debate continues, and repetition factor of main points remains high. Visitors gallery is now empty. Thanks to all three of you still reading this for sticking around.
7:09pm: Assemblymember Anthony Adams (R-Hesperia) channels Jack Nicholson as Colonel Nathan Jessep in telling Democrats who say the state needs more money: "You can't handle the truth."
7:07pm: In the interest of reporting a little news, Assembly Speaker Bass just briefly chatted with reporters just off the floor and said she intended to rekindle budget negotiations first thing tomorrow, knowing full well this vote will come up short. She also seemed a little less-than-optimistic that Democratic legislators would be traveling to Denver for the Democratic National Convention.
7:05pm: I'm told three assemblymembers are missing today: Assemblymember Nell Soto (D-Pomona) remains in poor health, as does Assemblymember Sharon Runner (R-Lancaster). Assemblymember Alberto Torrico (D-Fremont) is stuck in Miami, where he traveled to meet his kids returning from Bolivia… and where he ran smack dab into bad weather, courtesy of a hurricane.
7:02pm: An "unidentified" legislator tells me the Harris Ranch joke was actually about a horse in the men's room called "Budget Surplus." I stand corrected. I also will now let sleeping horses lie.
6:55pm: Assemblymember Guy Houston (R-Livermore) just mentioned something about staying out of the restroom at Harris Ranch. The chamber chuckled; I'm told it had something to do with a previous comment about said men's room and some kind of steer enshrined in there. Sorry to tell you I must've not been paying full attention. My apologies.
Also, gallery update: the three optimists left. Two glum new visitors arrived.
6:47pm: Just as the last two citizens in the visitors gallery went home… and all hope was lost… three newbies just arrived. They're smiling. I love their optimism.
6:45pm: Three hours, baby. And… wait for it… yes, more microphones just went up. Hopefully some smart reporter is keeping a full tally of the number of speakers. I've obviously given up on the substance of the debate as it's become… sorry, assemblymembers… repetitive. Not enough revenue… too much spending… all brought to you by the Office of Redundancy Office.
6:43pm: Three hours under our belts. I just saw Assemblymember Bill Maze (R-Visalia) sneak some kind of candy out from under his desk, shared by Assemblymember Rick Keene (R-Chico). I can't seem to get over there to ascertain exactly what kind of candy that was.
6:34pm: More microphones just went up of assemblymembers wishing to speak. Sigh. And wait… oh, man… one of the three remaining gallery visitors just left. Lucky guy.
6:30pm: Assemblymember Ted Gaines (R-Roseville) just mentioned the ill-fated Donner Party. They ate their fellow travelers, you know.
6:28pm: The lifeguard left. I now count three visitors in the gallery.
6:15pm: Two hours. Who had two hours in the pool? You lose. Onward we go.
6:01pm: "A lot of things are broken in this state, including my microphone." — Assemblymember Bonnie Garcia (R-Cathedral City). Then she tells the chamber she's tired of the annual budget ritual and offers this… unusual… way of expressing her feelings: "I'm sick and tired of the 'you show me yours, I'll show you mine.'"
And then in conclusion, pleading for more discussion on Monday, said Garcia: "Come in your sneakers, wear your damn pajamas… let's get down to work!"
5:54pm: Governor Schwarzenegger underwent arthroscopic knee surgery last night and isn't in Sacramento today. Lucky guy.
5:48pm: Assemblymember George Plescia (R-San Diego) invokes record Olympic medal winner Michael Phelps. See, who says legislators can't speak in ways the common person understands? But I kind of lost the analogy after that.
5:45pm: We're now at the 90 minute mark of the budget debate. I just remembered, somewhat excitedly, that I packed a sandwich in my gear bag. Let 'em keep talking, I say.
5:37pm: More visitors just walked into the gallery above the Assembly floor. They seem puzzled. One teenager has a "lifeguard" t-shirt on. He should stick around; we may need him.
5:28pm: Assemblymember Mike Duvall (R-Brea) brings up the historical record of Calvin Coolidge and tax cuts. Now he's on to lamenting tax increases under Franklin Roosevelt and blames them for the Depression. Actually… and I hate to focus on the historical record… but the Depression is widely agreed to have begun in 1929 when Herbert Hoover was the prez. The comment reminds me of the classic college flick Animal House, where John Belushi's character says the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.
"Germans?" says one of Belushi's frat brothers. "Forget it," says another brother. "He's rolling."
5:17pm: Oh no, he didn't. Assemblymember Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine) says 2004's Proposition 58, which created a rainy day budget fund, was "completely ineffectual," and he says the strength of the original proposal was "negotiated away". And who does he think did that? Well… He ends his soliloquy with an angry jab at Democrats. "Shame on this body!" he says, plopping down in his chair and pushing his microphone down.
Debate running time currently 1 hour, 2 minutes.
5:13pm: Oh no, she didn't. Assemblymember Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) drops the name "Grover Norquist"– the conservative anti-tax crusader who helped orchestrate an event where every GOP member of the Assembly except one (Niello) signed a pledge to not raise taxes.
5:11pm: Okay, sorry to disappoint. But given the repetition of arguments now appearing in floor debate, I think I'll stop chronicling everyone who speaks. Sorry, assemblymembers. But I think we've got the picture… for now.
5:06pm: Assemblymember Mimi Walters (R-Laguna Niguel) slams the tax increase idea.
5:00pm: Assemblymember Juan Arambula (D-Fresno) rises to ask Assemblymember Laird to talk about how last year's reserve evaporated after several doses of bad luck for the state. Arambula then tells the chamber that those things weren't the fault of Democratic leadership.
Update: remember how I said this might not be a long floor debate? Ummm… the number of microphones raised to speak keeps increasing. Oh well.
4:50pm: Assemblymember Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) rises to speak. Ah, here come the verbal slings and arrows we were expecting! On Dems calling this a compromise budget: "Compromise with who? Are you talking to yourselves?!?" And then there's this from Huff: "We have a systemic lack of leadership within the Democrat majority party." One Dem legislator shook his head in disgust. Now he calls Sacramento "La La Land." See, who said a Sunday budget debate wouldn't be fun?
The three citizens in the gallery upstairs seem unfazed. I wonder why they showed up?
4:46pm: Assemblymember Mike Feuer (D-LA) rises to speak. He must be an optimist, because he tells the chamber he hears agreement on how to solve the budget problem. Wait, he's a first-term lawmaker. Ah, that explains the optimism.
4:44pm: The following isn't meant to impugn all assemblymembers, but there do seem to be a fair number during this debate who are busy checking the BlackBerries, printing documents off their desktop computers, reading the news online [Olympics, anyone?], chowing down at their desks. Hey, it's Sunday.
4:39pm: Assemblymember Doug LaMalfa (R-Biggs) rises to speak to deride excessive spending and the ills of a tax increase. He, too, laments the lack of bipartisanship. [this just in: Assembly reaches accord... on a lack of bipartisanship. Film at 11. --JM] LaMalfa goes on to tell his fellow legislators to consider the fact that a new cap on state spending, a key GOP demand, might give some pols "cover" when it comes to pointing the blame to reduced state services.
4:37pm: Assemblymember Gene Mullin (D-South San Francisco) is up, channeling a "Can't we all get along?" theme.
4:33pm: Assemblymember Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo) rises to speak, saying that Democrats have a "minority among" them that doesn't want to cooperate with Republicans. "Republicans ideas for reform," he says, "are dying in committees."
Blakeslee then delivers this little zinger: "No justice, no peace. If you want us to work with you, then you're going to have to work with us."
4:31pm: Assemblymember Mervyn Dymally (D-LA) offers some historical perspective about another celebrity GOP governor who famously agreed to a tax increase– Ronald Reagan. Dymally should know; he was in the Legislature at the time. Dymally repeats the call of Democrats for GOP assemblymembers to put their own budget if they don't like this one.
It should be noted that most members of the Assembly are reading a relatively small summary of what's in the budget proposal being debated.
4:30pm: "It is time for Democrats to take their heads out of the sand… What are we doing here?" –Niello
4:27pm: Assemblymember Roger Niello (R-Sacramento) opens up debate for the GOP position. He says he's been getting lots of calls and emails telling him to "hang tough" and oppose the tax increase. He reads from an email written by a citizen who refers to Niello and his colleagues as "you Democrats" in his anger about taxes. Ummm, nope. And to the point of the day: "This is not a compromise budget," says Niello, "and it has no chance of passage."
4:24pm: Assembly Speaker Karen Bass is speaking. [Might this mean a short floor debate? --JM] Bass says this year's budget needs to be mindful of not exacerbating next year's problems, when the economy will again likely be dragging. She tells assemblymembers that a longer budget impasse may cost the state $300-400 million in fees tacked on by Wall Street investors for any borrowing needed to keep the state afloat. Bass calls the state's problem "an extraordinary situation" that requires a tax increase.
4:22pm: Assemblymember John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) opens up debate, saying that "only Democrats have put forward a real plan." And yes, he admits that today's outcome is a foregone conclusion.
4:15pm: Budget debate has begun… earlier than expected. Closed-door caucuses only lasted about 45 minutes, and now the full Assembly is considering both the original budget conference committee proposal, AB 1781, as well as the proposed changes highlighted below.
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John Myers is Sacramento Bureau Chief for KQED's The California Report, heard on public radio stations around the state. More about John...
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